Kim Possible: After The Fall
by LJ58
Summary: Post So The Drama. In an AU, Kim apparently killed Shego. The world is celebrating, but not Kim. Can she come to terms with what she's done, or will she find a means of redemption before her guilt causes her to self-destruct?
1. Chapter 1

_I do not own any Disney characters named herein, and am only borrowing them to tell a nonprofit tale meant for entertainment purposes only._

**Kim Possible: After the Fall **

**By LJ58**

**I**

"Kimberly," Ann called up to her from the foot of the stairs that led up to her room. "Are you still awake, honey?"

"Yeah, mom," came the listless reply. "I'm…not sleepy."

Ann Possible, a neurosurgeon with more than a little experience had no clue how to help her daughter.

The hearing had been bad enough for all of them, but ever since the news that Shego had died in her fourth operation, Kim had been suffering nightmares, and depression serious enough to worry the mother of the fabled teen heroine that once modeled the family credo that 'anything was possible for a Possible.'

Lately, however, Kim had not been doing much of anything.

Her grades were suffering. She had stopped taking missions. She didn't even go out unless it was to school, where her teachers claimed she spent most of the day staring into space. Her daughter was self-destructing, and Ann just didn't know what to do.

She didn't blame it on Shego. Not completely. Drew Lipski had played with her emotions with that synthodrone, and in the final showdown, he had once again proven his cowardice when he tried to flee while leaving Shego to face a very angry Kim Possible.

So angry, she had literally kicked the woman right off a building, and into a self-destructing transmission tower that collapsed on top of her. By the time they dug her out, she was already critical. Even with the woman's remarkable powers, she was very seriously injured, and only a series of emergency surgeries even kept her alive.

She didn't, however, survive the last surgery. That was when a DA out to make a name for himself had actually tried to charge her with manslaughter as a vigilante operating outside the law. The jury laughed him out of court. That, however, had not helped her daughter's mind. Kim was still taking everything very seriously. And very personally.

Stepping into her daughter's room, she saw her sitting by the window, staring out into the darkness. Again.

She didn't bother to turn on the light as she walked over to Kim's side, and stood quietly beside her for a moment.

"I know," Kim sighed.

"What do you know, sweetheart?"

"I'm being stupid. I need rest. I need to let it all go. All of the above, right?"

"Close. But I'd never say you were being stupid. I know…. Well, I can understand how you feel. It's never easy to take a life. Still, sometimes…."

"Mom, she didn't have to die."

"Kim?"

"I…. I had already beaten her. Them. We had beat them. They were done. But I still…. I just….._hated_ her so much at that moment, that I wanted to…. I really did _want_ to kill her, mom. I wanted to kick that smirk all the way down her throat, and….. And…. God help me, I got my wish," she finished with a choking sob as she buried her face in her hands.

"Honey, she would have done the same, or worse to you."

"You can't get much worse than dead, mom," Kim said quietly.

"Tell that to the paralyzed patients I see every day. Many of the most recent hurt by those two the night those robots attacked. You know the damage they did. And it was global, not just here. Whatever else, you still saved a lot of lives, dear."

Kim said nothing to that.

"Kim, I respect that you do value life. Still, sometimes…. Well, you did what had to be done. After all, you are a hero," she smiled, putting a hand on her shoulder.

"Heroes don't kill, mom," Kim said quietly, not even looking at her. "Heroes don't kill."

Ann had absolutely nothing to say to that.

**KP**

"I don't know, Ron," Ann sighed as she sat with him in the dining room of the Possible house later that week. "Has she said anything to you?"

"Nothing, Mrs. Dr. P," Ron sighed. "I thought….. Well, it seemed like we were….. You know, getting close there for a moment. Closer. Then the whole Shego thing blew up, and then there was the hearing, and everything, and…. She just…..shut down."

"I know. I'm really getting worried. She even quit cheerleading this week," she said quietly.

"I think she quit last week," Ron told her somberly. "I mean, she just quit showing up. Bonnie was really on her about it, and then….. I guess she made it official this week."

"This just isn't like her," Ann sighed again.

"So, is she here," he finally asked, Kim having been ducking him of late more than once since he was trying to get her to at least talk to him about that night.

"No. She went for a walk. I'm guessing she went back to the cemetery."

"The cemetery…..?"

"In Go City," Ann told him pointedly when his face was marked by confusion.

"Oh. Oh, man. That's just…..weird."

"Ron. Maybe you could talk to her again. I'm afraid I'm just not getting through to her."

"I'll try, Mrs. Dr. P. But to be honest, I don't know if she'll even listen to me any more. But I'll try."

"Thanks, Ron. That's all I ask."

He gave a wan expression, but said nothing as he didn't even bother to reach for the leftover pizza from the boys' lunch. Just then, he didn't have much of an appetite either.

**KP**

"I thought I'd find you here," the somber woman said as she walked up behind the redhead who stood with slumped shoulders as she stared vacantly at the grave of her fallen foe.

A woman she knew was a sister to four real heroes. A woman that once stood for justice herself. Until she changed. Until she crossed over. Her brothers didn't blame her for what happened. That they let her go without any words of condemnation did not make her feel any better.

Everyone seemed to be happy she had killed Shego.

Even if it was Shego, it just felt…..wrong.

"I told you I was finished," she told Dr. Betty Director who stood next to her in causal slacks, and a modest blouse rather than her usual GJ uniform.

"I came to talk to you, Kimberly. Not offer you a job."

Betty stared at the marker that said simply, '_Shego. Hero. Sister. Friend. R.I.P_.'

"Do you know that I knew her when she was still a hero? Just starting out?"

Kim said nothing to that.

"I think she was a lot like you. Or vice versa."

Kim remained silent as her lips thinned.

"The point is, you both faced critical decisions in your life. You know where it led her. The question is, Kimberly, where will your moment of crisis lead?"

"I already told you, I'm out. I'm going to finish school, go to college, and live….."

"An ordinary life? Too late. If someone isn't already gunning for you, they will be when they think you went soft. If not you, then your friends and family. It's the way their world works. You know that as well as I do. Besides, we both know that sooner or later you'd reach a point where your own natural competitiveness would draw you back into the game."

Kim said nothing to that.

"Just as it did Shego when she first quit. That's right. She didn't just jump into the mercenary lifestyle. She quit Team Go, and tried to live her own life at first. Only she wasn't made for an ordinary life. I don't know if it was because of the comet, or in spite of it, but she had to have her kicks. Kicks she didn't get following Hego's lead."

Kim focused her gaze on the headstone as Betty cleared her throat, and went on.

"At first, she did small jobs. Anything for a dollar, so long as the thrill was there. Then the need for the thrill overcame her ambition. Frankly, were she less indolent, she might have been a real threat in her time. Oddly enough, she settled for working with Drew in the end, and I suspect it might have been partially because of you."

"Me," Kim asked quietly, glancing her way only then.

"She took a job with the man as part of her usual lark from what I learned. Only rather than the usual job that pit her against the usual authorities, she ran headlong into you. The first person to go toe-to-toe with her since the comet gave her her powers. It is, of course, speculation, but I suspect she only stayed with Lipski because you showed up so often to thwart him. The thrill, I have said, was important to her."

"I see where this is going," Kim finally commented when the woman fell silent. "You think I might end up following Shego's footsteps. Maybe even….literally."

"I won't deny it is a possibility. No pun intended."

"I don't care about thrills, Dr. Director. I like…. Liked to help. But what I did. That was wrong. Only no one else seems to even care that I took a life. That I…._killed_….."

"It happens, Kimberly. If you want someone to tell you how bad you are, and how much you need punished? Well, you're going to be hard-pressed to find them. Because Shego was worse. Thousands were hurt, even killed in just that last scheme, and that was just that one plot. She didn't earn nine life sentences by being misunderstood."

"I know. I know. It's just…. I never…. I didn't want to….."

"Kimberly, people die in this business. Sometimes it's the good guys. Sometimes, thankfully, it isn't. And if one of _them_ goes down, I'm not going to waste tears on them," she said, all but glaring at Shego's grave. "I will say this much. If you can't cope with what was obviously an accident, then you're right. You don't belong in this job. Go home. Get married, and raise a family. Maybe one of your children will be more realistic about the necessities of the job they might join if they are anything like you. But don't stand here and mourn a bitch that would have laughed, and spit on your grave if things had gone the other way. She isn't worth it. She never was," the Global Justice agent spat.

Kim said nothing as the woman turned to go, pausing only to add. "I've said all I intend. The choice is yours, Kimberly. I just hope you make the right one. For all our sakes."

Kim said nothing as the woman walked away, and her gaze turned back to the gravestone.

She didn't understand. None of them did.

She had not killed Shego by accident. She had not beaten her in a fight. She had purposely, and intentionally killed the already spent woman in a fit of anger. She had lost her temper, and used her battle suit to purposely kick her over the side of the building. True, it was coincidence she hit the tower just as it was self-destructing, but Kim had put every ounce of power she and her battle suit had into that kick. She knew Shego was probably dying the minute she had gone flying.

She had seen it in the woman's stunned gaze as her eyes rounded, and blood fairly exploded from her mouth before she sailed over the side of the roof.

She had killed Shego as surely as if she had taken a gun, and put it to her head.

There was nothing heroic in that. Yet even in court, when she tried to confess the truth, no one wanted to hear that truth. No one cared. As Dr. Director said, everyone was just happy the plot was foiled, and Kim had saved the day again. Even the D.A. couldn't make those charges he brought stick, and he had only attempted the case as he had tried to earn himself political clout in an election year.

The attempt backfired, obviously, but Kim felt no better.

She shook her head, and turned to leave. "I'm sorry," she said, not for the first time as she left the solitary marker in a private corner of the cemetery where vagrants and paupers were buried. She knew Shego had family now, but even they didn't want her name on the stone. They didn't want their identities compromised even by their sister's death. Still, it was kind of sad, and tragic that even in death, Shego ended up alone.

Pausing, she turned to eye the grave a moment longer, and nodded. "I won't forget you," she told the isolated marker. Then turned and walked away.

_To Be Continued…_


	2. Chapter 2

_I do not own any Disney characters named herein, and am only borrowing them to tell a nonprofit tale meant for entertainment purposes only._

**Kim Possible: After the Fall **

**By LJ58**

**2**

The young woman in casual clothing walked into the lobby of the pristine, private medical facility, and after a glance around, walked right up to the reception nurse.

Reception was a misnomer here, because the woman knew the kind of patients treated at the Berne Institute likely didn't get many visitors. If any. Still, that was why she was here. To make a difference, and maybe, just maybe, offer some of them hope they wouldn't otherwise have in their lives.

She waited for a moment, the nurse sitting with her back to her as she stood there, and finally cleared her voice firmly, getting the woman's attention.

The older woman turned in her chair to eye her, no hint of recognition in her plain features as the slender, green-eyed redhead stood there waiting for her response.

May I help you," the woman drawled, sounding far from helpful.

Kim sighed, but didn't react to the woman's antipathy. She supposed in a place like this, it was just another day on the job for her. Still, she intended to change that. If he could.

And while she had given up the whole adventuring sitch years ago, she was still all about the family motto.

"I'm here to see Dr. Stein."

"Name?"

"Kimberly Anne Possible," she said as the bored woman eyed her as she stepped up to the window.

"Really? Identification," the woman asked cynically as Kim pulled out her license.

"Well," the woman at the security desk said, eyeing the willowy redhead in front of her. "We don't get many celebrities here," she said, and signed her in before sliding a security pass through the small slot in the safety glass that covered her station. "Do I need to call someone, or…."

"Dr. Stein is supposed to be expecting me. I have an appointment with him," she told the woman as she clipped the pass to her green blazer that matched the slacks she wore. The simple, black top she wore with the green slacks and blazer gave her a striking look with her red hair cut in a careless shag that just brushed her shoulders.

"I'll buzz him for you," the security guard behind the receptionist drawled as he walked over to study her, reaching for his radio. "You understand we can't just let you go wandering around. No matter who you are."

"Of course," she nodded, and waited for him to make the call.

She waited patiently, the nurse back to ignoring her after she made her call, but she didn't wait long. A lanky, balding man with thick glasses came out of the back after only a few minutes, and came right toward her.

"Ms. Possible," the administrator of the site smiled as he extended his hand. "What a pleasure to finally meet you. I cannot tell you how honored we are that you chose our humble establishment for your research. I really hope your study works out."

"So do I, Dr. Stein," she told him. "For the patients' sake, more than my own."

"Of course, of course. I may have to add a bit of extra security for your stay, though. The celebrity factor of your presence cannot help but bring the wrong element about, I'm told."

"I'm hardly a celebrity," Kim told him blandly.

"Oh, I think you're still more of a celebrity than you realize," he smiled back at her as he led her through the facility, showing her the treatment and therapy rooms, and then heading toward the actually patient rooms. "But, to be fair, we already have a few celebrities we keep covertly here, too," he told Kim as the tour continued. "Such as one of thsoe you expressed interest in aiding. Jia Manoveri, the teen opera sensation," he gestured to a figure in a private room, the small body hidden by the tented sheets around her body.

"I've heard of her. I take it the accident was worse than the media claimed?"

"She did suffer severe head trauma in the crash. We kept her alive, and continue to do so, but honestly, we just don't know enough about the mind's inner workings to bring her out of the coma that claimed her. Repairs we can make, but…..fixing what cannot be seen? Still beyond our purview, I fear. Which is why so many of us here are excited about your device, Ms. Possible."

"Well, I'm hoping it will make a difference, too, Dr. Stein. Still….."

She froze as she saw the flash of color that couldn't possibly be what she thought she saw when a door opened and closed behind a nurse that just carried a tray into a room marked 'Authorized Personnel Only.'

"Was that….? Who is in there," she asked him as she paused to look back at the door in question.

"Sorry, Miss Possible. That one is….."

Kim ignored him, walked back to the room, and shoved it open in spite of his sputtered protests. The nurse turned, revealing the masked face of the coma patient that lay before her on the bed. A face she knew in her dreams, and especially in her nightmares to this day.

Kim stared. She simply stared.

Almost four years to the day since she turned her back on her adventuring days. Almost four years to the day since she had accepted that she, Kim Possible, had killed another human being. Yet here, laying in that bed surrounded by tubes and wires, was Shego. Still alive. Still looking fit and whole enough to just sit up, and laugh in her face. Yet…..

"I don't understand," she frowned. "Is this some kind of…..joke?"

"No joke, Miss Possible," Dr. Stein told her uneasily as he caught up to her. "In fact, I do hope you realize how sensitive, and _beyond_ classified the woman's existence is at this point."

"Maybe you'd better explain," she demanded, crossing her arms, and staring hard at the pale physician.

"Well…."

"Now."

Frank Stein swallowed hard, and gave a weak smile. "_Omega 1 _was put in our care not long after she…well, went catatonic."

"By whom," Kim demanded.

"Perhaps if we just went to my office? I could give you the files, and show you everything we've done without….."

"In due time. Just give me the summary. Now," she growled in a manner that more than intimidated the older man.

To say she was beyond indignant would have been a gross underestimation. Four years grieving for a woman that wasn't dead, and beating herself up for that death?

"All right. All right. The short version is she did survive her surgeries, obviously. Only she wasn't waking up. Even when she fully healed, something, and we don't know what, had put her into a deeply catatonic state. We arranged the 'crash' to cover her move, and faked her death to better secure the prisoner, thinking she might eventually come out of her catatonia. In the meantime, it was hoped that with an unparalleled chance to study her, we might find a way to better secure her in a more traditional….."

"And recreate some of her powers," Kim asked knowingly.

The doctor said nothing to that.

"What did you learn? Anything of merit in the four years you've been lying to me? You are with _Global_ _Justice_, aren't you, doctor?"

"Well….. Not directly," he demurred.

"Explain that," Kim demanded. "Because I've already made it clear I will not work with GJ under any circumstances."

"Hear me out, please," he said as the duty nurse, looking uneasy, finished her duties in the room, and quickly fled.

"I'm waiting."

"When nothing could be learned, or done for her, she was transferred to long-term care here. Under the most stringent security, of course. When her comatose state persisted, it was decided she would be kept incognito, and out of the public eye. They…. That is…. Dr. Director does stop by now and then to check on her, but….. Well, we're more of a holding facility for her than an actual part of the agency. We even have some former agents here now and again. In this case, they just pay us to keep the woman here, safe, and out of sight."

"Now your heavy security makes even more sense."

"Yes. You cannot even hire on as a janitor without being cleared for top secret work."

Kim sighed wearily, and stared at the green-skinned woman who had been haunting her for years even after she allegedly died.

"Tell me what you do know of her condition. Any brain-wave activity? Voluntary reflexes, or other indicators?"

"That's the curious part. I'll show you her charts, of course, but….. Most of the time, she shows almost _no_ brain activity. You'd think she was flat-lined. Yet every other week or so, she goes into an almost frenetic REM state that lasts precisely two hours. Then she returns to the former state."

"Full REM?"

"Yes. We don't know why, or what is going on, but….. It's as if she were dreaming. Now and then she even speaks during those states."

"What does she say?"

"It's…..only one word. Always the same, though."

"What word?"

"_Princess_," Dr. Stein said quietly as he looked toward the unconscious woman. "It's all she's ever said. Just…. Princess."

Kim felt as if she were stabbed right in her heart.

Closing her eyes a moment, she steeled herself, and then drew a deep breath. Opening her eyes, she stared hard at the woman on the bed, and nodded.

"All right. She's my third trial patient."

"But, Ms. Possible!"

"I'll expect all her charts and records in my office by the end of the day. I'll bring in the Cerebral Modulator for all three, and we'll try the first bonding session with Miss Manoveri in…..four days. She's going to be my first. After I get a baseline reading of her cerebral activity."

"But….."

"We'll try the second patient I've selected in six days after that, whatever our results. Shego in eight. Or sooner if she goes into one of those REM states. I'm very interested in that."

"But….."

"Let's get to work, doctor," she told him, and turned and walked out of the room leaving him to follow, or not. "That is why I'm here, after all," she tossed over her shoulder.

"Uh, yes. Yes, it is," he said, and grimaced privately as he wondered how to break the news to Dr. Director that their proverbial _cat_ was out of the bag.

**KP**

"Good," Betty Director shocked him by stating after he admitted Kim had not only seen Patient Omega, but was adding her to her study.

"I didn't think you wanted anyone knowing…..?"

"Doctor," the one-eyed senior agent of GJ cut him off as he frowned at the video monitor connecting him to his unofficial superior. "Why do you think I even signed off on Possible coming aboard? I knew she would eventually find her, and I knew her doctoral thesis might just be able to bring Shego back."

"Wait, you _want_ her to wake up?"

"Dr. Stein, I know you're more of a general physician than a specialist, but think. After four years, do you think it likely that Shego is going to still be the same woman that was engaged in larcenous activities when she does wake?"

"You mean if…..?"

"_When_. Even without Possible's intervention, I already project her likely waking within five to six years on her own. That's based on the woman's almost preternatural healing abilities we've charted to date, of course. But, with the cerebral monitoring equipment Miss Possible has devised, and her theorized psyche immersion technique she's basing her study on, there is a better than average chance she will bring the woman back with a renewed sense of morality. That's a risk I'm willing to take in this case, Dr. Stein. Understand?"

"I see. You think Shego can be….redeemed?"

"I'm hoping they _both_ will be redeemed," Betty Director told him bluntly. "So give Kimberly every cooperation. She's now in charge of Patient Omega. Full discretion, doctor."

"Yes, ma'am. I just hope….."

"Yes?"

"Well, if she can influence Shego's mind, what is to keep Shego's mind from influencing her?"

"You obviously don't know Kimberly at all, doctor," Betty told him dryly. "Just keep me informed. I want to know everything."

"Yes. Yes. Of course."

Closing the connection, he turned to see the door cracked, and a willowy redhead in a white medical coat leaning against the frame as she stared into the office.

"Oh, ah…. Ms. Possible. Do come in. What can I do for you?"

"So, I take it your boss cleared things up?"

"Well, I…. That is…. You heard," he grimaced as he forced himself to meet that cool gaze.

"Enough. Don't worry. I don't care about her, her machinations, or her intentions. I'm here only to help people that need help."

"Even….?"

"Even Shego. I just got the baseline finished on Patrick Oder. You're right. No cerebral response, or neural activity at all. I'm afraid he might truly be brain-dead."

"What will you do?"

"Try a peripheral immersion, and determine if he's really gone, or if his mental activity might simply be too subtle for current monitoring to detect. If it is the latter, I'll try a deeper bond later to see if we can pull him out."

"And Miss Manoveri?"

"Is looking very normal, and very healthy. Overall, based on her monitoring, I'd say she's willingly subjected herself to her catatonic state. Perhaps subconscious fears of the trauma, or some other phobia has her fleeing consciousness. I'll find out, and hopefully bring her out of it."

"And…. Shego?"

"Initial readings aren't looking promising. Physically, you're right. She's in perfect health. Better than perfect. Yet her mind is…. Well, it's as if it were…. Shielding itself from reality."

"Except for the REM states," he frowned.

"Except for the REM states," she agreed. "Which does beg the question what is really going on inside that woman's head."

"I suppose you are going to find out, Miss Possible?"

"Absolutely. And I've told you to call me Kim. Even Kimberly. Remember?"

"So, ah, Kimberly," he smiled wanly as she remained leaning against the door frame. "What brought you down to my office? Something you need?"

"Actually, yes. I want you to stand by with me when I immerse with Oder. You're not a specialist, but your experience with general medicine will be of more use in a comprehensive sense as I suspect my initial bond might impact both our metabolisms in unanticipated ways."

"Oh!"

"Can I count on you?"

"Of course, Miss…. That is, Kimberly. Of course."

"Good. Let's go. I am set up now, and plan to 'dive' in twenty minutes."

"Today? Now?"

"No time like the present," the redhead informed him as she let the door go as she turned to leave. Frank had to leap to his feet, grabbing his pass keys as he raced after her, knowing Possible was not the type to delay just because someone was late.

She had already proven that several times over in the past week as she bypassed, or outright ignored his staff when they tried to stall, or protest some of her requests in regard to her patients. She might not be the hero she had been in her teen days, but she was still just as willful and obstinate as she was reported to have been in those days.

Little wonder she must have driven some of her opponents crazy.

_To Be Continued…._


	3. Chapter 3

_I do not own any Disney characters named herein, and am only borrowing them to tell a nonprofit tale meant for entertainment purposes only._

**Kim Possible: After the Fall **

**By LJ58**

**3**

Frank walked into the room as Kim leaned over the patient now placed in what appeared to be a VR helmet. A similar helmet covered the top of Kim's head as she lowered the visor in place, and nodded his way as she thumbed a switch.

"Ready for the count," he asked, and walked over to the control panels between the bed and Kim's chair.

"Ready. Maybe we'll have more success with Shego than Patrick," she stated from beneath her helmet.

"Just don't get lost in there," he warned somberly, recalling how hard it had actually been to remove her own sense of self from that empty mind the first time she had visited the man's mind. It was like being sucked into a vacuum.

"Cheer up, Dr. Stein. After the first two patients, this one should be a cakewalk," Kim told him as he eyed the green-skinned woman that still showed no sign of brainwave activity just then. "After all, we're learning from every dive. This one should be no big."

Franklyn Stein only grimaced at her cavalier attitude.

They had decided to explore that flat-line state since they were a week behind schedule on bringing Shego into the process, and her REM state had not shown up as yet. Kim hoped that by experiencing the 'flat' brain, she might be able to extrapolate what was going on later once she was exposed to the REM state.

It had been disappointing, and depressing to be in Patrick Oder's mind. She had learned it was simply empty. A vast, mental plain of unrelenting darkness. No activity. No spark. Nothing. Whoever or whatever had made up Patrick before his accident was gone. The man was literally an empty shell. His family still fought accepting that truth, but it was hard to argue the efficacy of her experiment after she delved into Jia Manoveri's psyche, and brought out a troubled child hiding from her stepfather's abuse, and his exploitation of both her body and talent as much as the pain of her traumatic accident.

She was now in an even more exclusive hospital for the necessary recovery therapies, mental and physical, but wide awake, and recovering nicely.

Her stepfather was in prison awaiting trial as the lawyers argued over whether her unique machine's discoveries could be considered as evidence in court. Either way, Jia was free of him, and at least part of her fears, and so the talented girl could get on with her life.

Now, she was actually looking forward to facing a few demons of her own as she heard Frank Stein's voice counting down as if from a distance as she 'fell' into the darkness between minds, and prepared to literally face her own past in another's mind.

She half expected another stygian abyss. A place of nothingness.

She did not expect to open her eyes on a sunlit playground.

She looked around, seeing a generic school. A generic playground. A park nearby that was as much forest as meadow, and then she heard a voice.

"Hello," she called.

She heard an audible whimper now as she turned toward the park. Crossing the deserted street, she walked through the grass, felt a soft breeze, and even smelled flowers. This, she realized, was no empty mind. Shego was _alive_!

"Go 'way," she heard, and turned toward a furtive shadow behind one of the nearest trees.

"Go '_way_," the voice screamed now, and she saw the flash of green light that marked her rival when she lost her temper at the best of times.

"Shego?"

"Who….? Who are you?"

"I'm…. A friend. I'm a friend," she called out to the shadow that moved through the trees, keeping them between the two of them with an almost supernatural ease as Kim tried to track her.

"I don't have any friends," the voice wailed. "Not any more."

"Yes, you do. I'm one. I'm here now just to see you."

"You…. You are?"

"Yes. Won't you come and talk with me? I've come a long way to find you. Please?"

For a moment she heard nothing. Not even the crying.

Then she saw a young green-skinned girl with dark green hair walk out of the shadows and stare up at her. If she was Shego's mental image, she couldn't be any more than twelve. Just about the age she had been when the comet struck from all she had learned of Team Go, and its colorful history.

No pun intended.

"Hello, Shego," she smiled, and knelt down to better put herself on the child's level.

Was this really how Shego was seeing herself?

"I'm Sharonda. I don't like that other name. It's stupid."

Kim only smiled. "Let me guess. He… Henry gave it to you?"

The girl's expression twisted. "Yeah. He's so dim. He wants to be heroes, like in his dumb comics. That's all he cares about. Stupid, blue moron," she pouted.

Kim said nothing to that.

"Are you….really my friend?"

"Yes, She… Sharonda."

"I don't remember you. You're very pretty, though. Like a Princess," she murmured, stepping closer to her as she kept her gaze fixed on Kim's eyes.

"Thank you. I think you're very pretty, too."

"Me," the girl frowned, looking down at herself as she held up her dainty hands that were as green as grass. The darker nails also had a green tinge. As did that very dark green hair.

Apparently, she really was green everywhere. Something Kim had realized only after seeing Shego that first day in the Institute without her usual hair dye and makeup.

"You," Kim said, and held out her arms. She wasn't sure why Shego was using this young construct to visualize herself, but she had baby-sit enough shy and bashful girls to know how she must be feeling. "I think you're very beautiful."

"R-Really?"

"Really."

"Davie said I'm a freak," she sniffed, staring off at the school.

"Davie must be an idiot," Kim told her, still holding out her arms to the girl. "Because I don't see a freak. I see a very pretty girl. One with special gifts. And someday, I'll bet you show the whole world how special you are _inside_. Where it counts."

The little girl smiled more openly now, and went into her arms. "You even sound like a princess. You're really smart, huh?"

"Well, I'm a little older than you, Sharonda."

At least, right now, Kim thought.

"I've had time to learn more about life," she went on.

"Hmmmm," came the noncommittal sound as the thin arms hugged her with surprising strength. Or maybe not that surprising considering who she was.

"Wanna play with me," the girl asked, easing her hug to stare up at her as Kim rose to her feet.

"What would you like to play," Kim asked.

"Tag," the girl cried with a wide smile, and swatted Kim's arm before bolting into the forest as she shouted, "You're it!" Kim couldn't help but smile, and ran after the girl who was apparently mercurial in her moods even as a child judging by this display. If this were a memory, or a representation of her childhood, that is, she reasoned. Still, to have been shunned by her peers because of an accident?

That could not have helped her. Especially with her brothers dragging her into their heroic fantasies from the start without considering her own feelings.

She felt a twinge of guilt, recalling her own past, and how she dragged others into a life they did not want, or weren't ready for at the time. She shoved it away, though, knowing this wasn't about her. It was about a life still hanging in the balance.

"Sharonda," she called, losing track of the girl who was faster than she was, it seemed. "Are you there?"

She turned past a larger than average tree, and blinked.

She was suddenly in a warehouse district, in the middle of the night, and a bloated moon lit the shadows from overhead. Only there was more than enough darkness around to provide ample hiding places.

"Sharonda," she called out at hearing a low rustle from one of the shadows.

"Wha'd you call me," a cold-eyed teen with jet black hair growled as she came out of the shadows with blazing fists.

"Sharonda," Kim echoed, staring into those cold, angry eyes. She refused to look away. She met that gaze with her own determined one, and held out her hands in supplication. "I'm still your friend. Remember? Your princess?"

"Lady, you're demented," Shego growled, and her hands flared brighter and hotter. "Are you with Aviarius? Is this some kind of sick game?"

"No game. I'm here to help you."

"Help me," the teen growled. "Do I look like I need help," she snarled, shaking a glowing fist.

"Yes. You do," Kim told her, and continued to stand her ground.

Shego's hard glare faltered for a moment, then she scowled bleakly. "Did Hego put you up to this? Is this another….?"

"No one sent me. I'm here because I want to be. I am here because you need me."

"I don't need anyone," she spat, and turned and bolted back into the shadows.

"Sharonda!"

The shadows swallowed the girl, and she impulsively ran forward, and right into a cavernous lair where she stood to one side as she saw a much older Shego, at least twenty now, lounging behind a desk with her feet atop it as she eyed a burly man in a Henchco uniform.

"So, let me get this straight. All I gotta do is baby-sit some goofy scientist who wants to build some kind of 'doomsday' thingy, and I get _fifty_ _grand_? Just like that?"

"Boss says anything you want. He'll pay, if you take care of any….problems."

"Define problems," Shego murmured in that way she had when outthinking the competition, and looking out for ways to exploit an opportunity.

"Well, you know? Security, acquisitions. Some of the parts he needs might have to be….found. Get it?"

"I get it. You need a thief. And a bodyguard. That about it?"

"Pretty much."

"All for fifty grand?"

"That's the offer."

"Make it one-fifty. I want full medical, and a paid vacation, too, if I'm contracted longer than six months to this doofus."

"Uh….."

"Yesssss," she murmured, her eyes narrowing as she slowly, methodically put her feet down, and her hands on the desk top.

"Okay, I'm pretty sure the Doc will agree to that."

"Good. Put it in writing, and you boys have a deal, Larry."

"It's, uhm, Lars, Miss Shego."

"Don't care, muscle-head. Just get the contract, and I'm in. _Cash_ in advance," she added.

"I'll be back," Lars told the woman as Kim continued to watch from the shadows. She didn't move as the man turned and left the way he had apparently come.

"Okay, snoop," Shego called. "You might as well come on out. I know you're there."

"I wasn't hiding," Kim said, walking out into the better lit corner of the cavern where Shego was apparently doing her mercenary business now.

"No? You always haunt caves you got no business being in?"

"I have business."

"Really," she smirked dryly. "Well, you probably just heard I already signed on to do a job. Maybe if I finish up early we can deal. Until then, I'm….."

"I came to help you."

"Help…..me," Shego laughed. "Lady, you're a riot."

"I heard you were looking for a princess," she said, and Shego tensed, and blinked as she glowered at her in earnest now.

"What are you talking about, Red?"

"You heard me."

"I think you're nuts," Shego spat. "But I don't care. Hell, half the world is nuts. Who am I to judge? What I do care about is how you got in here, and who sent you. So, spill, Red, before I peel you like a banana," she growled, holding up a glowing right hand curved just so as she rose to her feet.

"I don't think you'll hurt me," Kim told her, and stepped around the desk, reaching out to take the arm just below her wrist so she didn't 'burn' herself.

She still wasn't sure how reality worked inside a mind, but she knew well enough from other studies that psychosomatic or psyche injuries could be just as real, and just as painful as physical ones. Best not to take chances.

She gave a faint smile of relief as the plasma faded as she pulled that hand toward her, and then used her free hand to gently pat Shego's face.

Acting on impulse, she stated, "Tag. You're it."

Shego's face went through a myriad of expressions all at once, and she abruptly broke into tears as she let Kim embrace her. Even as Shego began to cry, everything changed.

She found herself standing on a rooftop under a stormy sky as Lil' Diablos rained the sky, and the thunder almost deafened her even as a short-circuiting control tower began to crumble.

"Hey, Pumpkin," came a sour greeting as she turned to see a battered, but still defiant Shego standing panting before her.

Just as she had that night.

Kim looked down as she realized she was wearing her battle suit again. That she was, in fact, acting out that same night from over four years ago.

She even heard herself remark, "You know what I really hate," before she could stop herself as Shego was obviously trying to recover from the earlier fight.

She had not noticed that before now. Certainly not then. Shego had already been hurt. She looked….spent.

"That your boyfriend melted," the comet-powered felon smirked, still barely able to stand, but showing no hint of yielding.

"No. _You_," she hissed, and launched that fateful kick.

This time she saw the expression clearly. Not fear, but pain. Something in Shego had reacted to her words even before she had snapped that kick out to drive her over the roof. Into apparent death.

Even as she raced to the edge, staring down in horror at the falling body this time instead of wearing her own satisfied smirk she still regretted, she heard Shego's wail. Not a scream. Not a protest. Nothing of that sort as she had long imagined.

She simply cried out, "_Princess_!"

Whatever else was said was lost as the transmitter tower snapped in half, and the rubble folded down to crush the woman beneath its ruin.

Kim felt hot tears drenching her face as she slowly reached up to pull the VR unit off her head.

"Thank God," Frank was saying as he knelt before her. "I thought we lost you this time."

"Lost….me," she choked. "I wasn't….."

"Kimberly, you were inside over _four_ hours! Then the REM cycle started abruptly, and your vitals went crazy. I thought…. I feared…."

"Four….hours," Kim frowned as she stared over at the woman who now showed no brain activity again.

"When did the REM start?"

"Just two hours ago. I was about to risk disconnecting you when you just….came out of it."

Kim frowned. At the very moment she watched Shego 'die,' she woke up. And the woman's brain went back to its apparent flat-line.

"Did you learn anything?"

She looked up at Frank again. "Yes. Oh, yes. I learned a great deal. Shego's very much alive, Dr. Stein. That REM cycle is a never-ending nightmare for her. She must be reliving it over and over again at various intensities."

"But….? What about….?"

"The flat-line? She's not inactive. She's reliving her own life up to that point. I wager she is doing it again and again, and then climaxing, as it were, at the moment she….. Well, you know? I need to review everything, especially her psych profile GJ sent over. Then we'll schedule another immersion."

"Another?"

"Something is going on inside that head, doctor. Just like with Jia, if we can figure it out, and bring her to face it, we can wake her up."

"I take it you actually lived her….dreams?"

"Her memories. In a manner of speaking. Now, I just have to figure out how to interpret them if I'm going to help her."

_And make up for what I did to her_, Kim thought as she rose unsteadily to her feet, surprised she was even able to take a steady step as she crossed over to Shego's bed, and stared down at the blank expression.

"Hang on," she whispered, gently touching the woman's shoulder. "Just hang on a little longer," she told her. "I'm going to help you," she swore quietly. "I promise."

_To Be continued…._


	4. Chapter 4

_I do not own any Disney characters named herein, and am only borrowing them to tell a nonprofit tale meant for entertainment purposes only._

**Kim Possible: After the Fall **

**By LJ58**

**4**

Kim sat down next to her machine, reaching for the simulator helmet as Dr. Stein, and a nurse connected the leads to Shego once more.

Four attempts. Four. Every one had her failing. Every one had ended with her overwhelmed despite her intentions as Shego lived out that night in the exact same way it had transpired the first time.

This time, she was going to change it. She had spent an entire three days carefully mediating. Carefully reassessing her own feelings. Preparing for this singular effort. It was time to end this nightmare.

For both of them.

Most especially, for Shego.

She felt the now familiar transition, and once again found herself reliving Shego's life. This time she jumped into the middle of a battle with the bird-guy they called Aviarius. A more serious loon she could never have imagined. And she had faced quite a few loons of her own.

Still, soon enough, she was back on that roof. Back in her youthful guise, wearing that battle suit as she stared at the waiting Shego still obviously trying to catch her breath. Still trying to stall. Something she just hadn't noticed that night.

For a moment, she again felt the words. They were hard and bitter. Dancing on the end of her tongue like acid that demanded to be spilled. Still, this time, she managed to bite them back as the rain fell on them, even as the cybertonic robots clattered around them on the roof.

She relaxed, standing before Shego as the woman frowned, still tense, and still trying to show herself ready for anything.

"What are you doing, Kimmie," she finally demanded, giving away far too much as she sagged for a moment when she realized she wasn't about to be attacked. "What are you up to here?"

"Don't you see, Shego? Haven't you figured it out yet," she asked as she willed her battle suit to disappear. As she forced this Shego to see her not as a willful, vengeful teen, but the woman she had grown up to become.

"This is _over_."

"No….!"

"Shego, it was over _four years _ago. You're asleep. Trapped in your own….nightmares."

"No," the woman croaked, but looked horrified all the same.

Shego shook her head, backing away from the suddenly older, more mature Kim Possible that now stood before her in tan slacks, and a green blouse as her youthful persona faded, and her battlesuit with it. Now she faced a Kim Possible that held out her arms to her, and gave her a faint smile.

"Yes. It's over, Shego. Or should I call you Sharonda?"

"How….?"

"I have learned a lot about you since this night. You don't know how much I regret what happened. What I did to you. But it's time to wake up, Shego. It's time to face…."

"No," Shego turned, and acted not unlike she was about to leap right off the roof herself as the transmitting tower audibly cracked, and began to crumble on cue.

She froze when Kim caught her, pulling her back, and together they watched the tower fall. Shattering itself under its own failing weight as it buried what was left of the synthodrone that had so easily duped her back then.

Only this time, Shego stood with her atop the roof as she looked down upon the destruction.

This time, Shego stayed safe.

"It's all right, Sharonda," Kim said quietly, pulling her around to hug her before the woman could react. "It's all right. I forgive you. Now it's time to forgive yourself for whatever has you punishing yourself."

"For what," Shego ground out. "I….I have nothing….to….."

The woman was suddenly crying, and holding onto her.

"Princess! I almost lost you," she blurted out, and clung to her like a drowning woman might hold onto a life preserver. "I almost lost you," she cried, and suddenly Kim was blinking against the light as Frank stared down at her.

"I must say, Kimberly. You're taking some dreadful chances by continuing to….."

"K-K-K'mmie," a raspy voice gurgled around the feeding tube in her mouth as Shego struggled against her bonds, and the life-sustaining medical equipment.

"Shego," Kim gasped, and leapt to her feet as she all but flung her VR unit at Frank, who just managed to catch it.

"Easy," Kim told her, lifting the visor so the dark green eyes could focus on her. "Easy, Shego. You have been asleep a long time," she advised her. "Give yourself time….."

"Accckkkk," she sputtered as the woman freed and lifted a hand to pull the tube from her own mouth.

"Shego," Kim gasped even as Frank Stein grimaced at the woman's audacity.

"Call me…..Sherri," the faintly green lips curved slightly as she smiled up at her.

"All right, Sherri," Kim murmured, and continued to remove the immersion gear from her as she checked her monitors while freeing her of the breathing tube next when it seemed Shego was ready to just pull it out, too. "Just….be patient. We want to make sure you really are all right…."

"I'm fine. Now. But I am starving, and….."

"Yes," Kim paused, staring down into her earnest stare.

"I…. I'd really like to talk, Princess," she called her.

"Princess," Frank echoed in confusion, staring from one woman to the other as he only then started to equate one with the other.

For a moment, Shego's expression turned bleak as she eyed him, but then Kim poked her chest with a single finger, and declared, "_Tag_. You're it," with a smug grin.

Shego stared at her in confusion, then shook her head as she started to smile. Then she just gaped as she started to cry. "You…. It was _you_…. In my head? All this time...? That was really you? I thought…. I felt I was…..dreaming."

"It was me, Sherri. I told you, I was here to help."

"But….why," the older woman started to cry now. Tears sliding down her cheeks though she never looked away from Kim.

"Because, I owed you. And, it is what I do."

Shego gave a watery smile, and a weak laugh. "We really need to talk."

"Yes, we do. Now, be still, and let your therapist be certain you're all right."

"My….therapist?"

"That's me," Kimberly told her. "Although, after this little thesis is published, I'm pretty sure I'll make doctor for certain."

"That goes without saying," Frank told her as to his genuine astonishment, Shego simply sat up after Kim freed her of the last of the tubes and wires other than the ones that simply monitored her vitals.

Every strap that held her secured to the bed had simply been…..seared right through by then.

"Kimmie…..?"

"Yes," she asked.

"I…."

Shego just stared at her, not moving, her lips trembling, and as if still reading her thoughts, Kim leaned down to embrace the woman.

"I'm sorry," Shego blurted out as she began to cry in earnest now. "I'm so sorry! That night... I went too far... I never..."

"It's all right, Sherri," she said, enduring the powerful hug.

Shego, she realized, had lost none of her strength laying in that bed.

Frank, meanwhile, said nothing as he stared at the women embracing one another, and noted Kim was stroking her back like a child's. Strangely enough, the woman with a reputation for being far from friendly was allowing it as she in turn clung to Kimberly as if unable to let go.

Finally, clearing his throat, he asked, "Should I call Dr. Director?"

"Only if you want a plasma enema," Shego growled at him, her soft smile fading as she glared at him.

"I'll make my own reports, in my own time, Dr. Stein. If you don't mind? Why don't you go assess the new patient lists for my next trial? I believe this one can be qualified as a success."

Shego, meanwhile, went absolutely still as Kim slowly released her, and sit on the side of the bed.

"I was….an experiment," she asked quietly.

"By necessity," Kim admitted. "I didn't even know you were still alive until I came here to try to help comatose patients with my new invention," she told her. "When I found you here, I knew I had to try to help you. I….owed you."

"No, Princess," Shego sighed, and sagged back into the pillows Kim quickly arranged for her. "You didn't owe me anything," she told her sadly.

"Yes. Yes, I did. I almost killed you, Sherri. I thought I did kill you. I never…. I didn't want to…. That night…..I'm sorry. I lost my temper, and….."

"Hush," Shego murmured, and put a finger on her lips.

She then moved to lay her head on Kim's shoulder, and just sighed. She said nothing. Did nothing. She just rested her head on Kim's shoulder, and held onto her.

Neither of them noticed when Frank Stein left the room.

**KP**

"Kimberly."

"Well, well," Kim murmured, looking up from the laptop where she was typing her latest report on her experimental trials. Her mentor at the university was ecstatic on the results to date, and even the interactions she had recorded with the minds of the comatose patients that proved not all of them were laying there senseless as conventional wisdom had long proposed. "What brings you out here," she asked eyeing the woman that stood in her borrowed office door.

"I think we both know, Kimberly. I understand our star patient is doing much better these days."

Kim simply watched her as she walked into the room, cast a glance at the CM VR unit set to one side of her desk, and took a chair at the side of the desk.

"Are you going to ask?"

"I thought you'd get to it eventually. Have you seen her?"

"No. I thought I'd see you first. Word is, she is your _personal_ patient."

"Does that bother you?"

"Dr. Stein is a traditionalist. He's afraid your…..exposure might have…..tainted your own thought processes. At the least, made you…..less than objective."

"Funny he didn't have those fears when I brought Jia back."

"Jia didn't try to destroy the world."

"Neither did Sherri."

"Sherri," Betty asked, arching one brow.

"We both know you have her file. Her complete file. She prefers to be called that just now."

"So Dr. Stein said. What he didn't tell me was what exactly is going on with you two lately."

"Shame, Dr. Director," Kim smiled blandly as she closed her laptop after finishing the paragraph she was working on. "Unconventional as it is, I am her therapist, and our sessions are confidential."

"Fair enough, Kimberly," the woman nodded, her good eye sweeping the office again. "Just tell me one thing. Is she stable?"

"Define stable," Kim asked quietly as she leaned back in her own chair.

"You know what I mean."

"Then I have to say no. No, she isn't. She has suffered four years of recurring nightmares without relief. I won't give you details. You don't need them. Suffice to say she is emotionally fragile at this point, and if you envision dragging her off to jail before anyone can find out she's even still alive, I'll tell you now, it would be the most ferociously _stupid_ thing you could do at this point."

"Ferociously….stupid," Betty echoed, arching her brow again.

"She's at a crossroads, Dr. Director," Kim told her. "Between what is essentially yesterday for her, and what might be tomorrow. You drag her off to a cell, and she _will_ snap. And you'll lose a lot of people trying to hold her. We both know that. Give me time, and I think I can not only help her, I can…."

"Reform her?"

Kim sighed. "No. Only she can do that. If she wants it. The point is, I think she's close to _wanting_ that redemption. You drag her away now, and that gets lost. She gets lost, and she probably self destructs. We both know what that could involve."

"Unfortunately, I do," Betty nodded.

"So?"

Betty stared silently at the redhead for a moment, and then remarked, "I _like_ Jia Manoveri. I enjoyed her performances at the Met before her accident. It was a real pleasure to hear she's recovering now, and is already looking forward to returning to the stage."

Kim said nothing as Betty seemed to collect her thoughts.

"No long-term promises, Kimberly. But for now, I can leave her in your….custody, so long as she does not try to leave this facility. Or your direct supervision. If she does, all bets are off."

"Fair enough. I am certain she'll agree to your terms, though. In fact, it might even alleviate some of the anxiety that is still plaguing her."

"Are we talking about the same woman?"

"The woman I'm treating has spent four years trapped in an endless, recurring nightmare, Dr. Director. For her, the world has stood still. As I said, she's…..fragile at this point."

"I'd like to see her."

Kim frowned.

"Are you going to say that's a bad idea?"

"No. No. It's just…. I think I should ask her. She's still a little moody if she's disturbed too often. We even keep the same three duty nurses on a rotating schedule so new faces don't unsettle her."

"Dr. Stein has said she was dangerously belligerent."

"Frank Stein is a bureaucrat who needs to leave prognoses to those who know what they're talking about. An administrative caretaker is hardly fit to assess her mental state. Let alone interpret it."

"Kimberly?"

"She is acting out. She's still trying to compensate, Betty," she called her informally now. "You must know how she blusters when she's nervous. Or….did. It's only that. Tell me one time she actually, seriously injured anyone. Which we both know she could have done at any time."

"Fair enough. I'd still like to see her."

"All right. Just let me sound her out, and ask her. If I tell her you aren't there to slap cuffs on her, she might be more…."

"Cooperative?"

"At the least."

Betty simply nodded as she rose to her feet. "Then shall we go?"

Kim stood up without a word, and gestured for her to go. She locked the office behind them, and then led her down the hall to the medical ward. She passed the open ward where over twenty patients still slumbered their lives away, and Betty couldn't help glancing at the rows of beds that represented those that couldn't afford private rooms.

"Can your machine wake all of them up?"

"We've had seven trials to date," Kim told her. "We've woke up three of them now, including Sherri. A fourth is showing some promising indicators."

"And the other three?"

"One is obviously brain dead. A true vegetable. The other two are….. Well, buried in delusions would be putting it kindly. They were brain-damaged by heavy drug use, and it's difficult to penetrate the fantasy worlds their minds have created. Still, I'm hopeful. The more successes we have, the more models we can use to refine the processes that might make it easier to reach even those truly shattered minds."

"I see. Good luck, then."

"Thank you," she murmured, and walked down the private wing to a door that Betty was mildly surprised to see was unlocked as Kim paused, knocked, and a voice growled, "What now?"

"Give me a few," Kim told her as she opened the door.

"Hi, Sherri. It's me. Can we talk?"

"A little early for the couch session, aren't you, Princess," Betty heard the woman inside say, her voice audibly softening.

"Bad time?"

"No. No. They threw a new nurse in here, and the loopy bitch wanted me keep the windows and curtains closed. You'd think I was a vampire the way she fretted over my sunning in the window."

Kim laughed softly. "They just don't know you that well yet, Sherri. They're used to unconscious patients here. Remember?"

"Yeah. Yeah. So, are my eyes all right, or did I see that one-eyed harpy show up out in the parking lot today?"

"She's here. She'd like to speak to you. I told her it was your choice."

Betty heard the pause before Kim went on.

"I should tell you, she has said you can stay here in my care for now. So you don't have to worry about anyone dragging you away."

"Aren't I technically dead, though?"

"Technically, you are _still_ dead."

Betty heard the silence stretch out for several minutes before Shego finally grumbled, "Okay. Send the harpy in."

"Just try to be patient, okay? And if things get too bad, let me know. I'll show her out."

"You'd do that for me," Shego asked as Betty listened to them.

"You are my patient, Sherri. And after the past few weeks, I'd like to think we're becoming friends."

"Me, too, Princess," she heard the woman call Kimberly.

"Want me to stay, or….?"

"I can handle her. Just send her in, and let's get this over with," she sighed.

"Sherri?"

"I'm fine. Just….stay close," she asked after a moment, and even Betty, trained to assess people in an instant, heard genuine fear in Shego's voice.

Shego, who had once held off two full strike teams of her best. Shego, who had faced down some of the best and brightest of any nation you cared to name.

Hearing that tone coming from her was…..surprising.

The door opened a moment later, and Kim stepped outside. "Ten minutes," she murmured quietly. "And try not to agitate her."

Betty simply glanced at her, and then stepped around her to enter the room.

Kim let her close the door, and then she turned around to study the room before she turned to the woman sitting in a chair near the open window.

"Bets," the green-skinned woman in a pale green gown and matching robe nodded as their eyes finally met. "Guess you're disappointed."

"Actually, I expected you to wake sooner or later," she admitted, knowing bluster when she heard it as she walked across the private room that was surprisingly Spartan considering how much she knew Shego favored her luxuries and comfort. Still, it was plain the modest gown and robe the woman wore weren't the usual offerings in this kind of facility. Also, the books and magazines on the nearby hospital table were new, too.

"Guess I was tired," she shrugged, but Betty read the furtive glance, and uneasy quaver in her tone. Just as she caught the quick glance that went from her toward the closed door.

"Did Kimberly tell you I have decided to leave you in her custody for now?"

"She mentioned that," Shego said quietly, and relaxed slightly. Not completely, but more than she had been.

"It's true. As I told her, I can't make long-term promises at this point, but as long as you stay put, and behave, I do have the authority to leave you in her care."

"Thanks," Shego told her, and Betty was surprised to hear the genuine gratitude slip through.

"I'm not a complete monster, Shego….."

"I prefer Sherri. I'm not sure I want to be…..Shego any more."

"That doesn't actually bother me. Sherri. Kimberly seems to think you still need quite a bit of therapy."

"Well…. I'd be the last person to deny I might need a little….help. I mean, you knew my last boss," she said with a nervous chuckle.

"Lipski. He's still at large just now, by the way. Your….apparent death didn't slow him down at all."

"Does he know….?"

"He thinks you're dead, too. He's no less dangerous without your aid, though. It didn't help that Kimberly chose to retire when she did, too. It took us a little while to replace her."

"Replace….? Kim quit? When?"

"The day after your fight. Your last fight. She has had her own issues. I don't know if she has told you, but she almost fell apart mourning you."

"Me," Shego frowned. "She….mourned _me_?"

"She still visits your grave. Or did until recently."

"When she found me here," Shego murmured.

Betty nodded.

"She didn't tell you?"

"I only know she came here to….try to help….."

"She walked out completely," Betty told her, "And after a bit of a stutter, she devoted her life to her science. It's almost ironic that the woman that put you here is now the one that helped you wake up."

Shego frowned, her expression becoming more troubled. "Why are you here? Not just to tell me…..about Kim?"

Kim was right. She could hear the anxiety in the woman's tone. This was far from the willful, sardonic felon she knew. She was fragile, all right. And it wouldn't take much to shove her over an edge where literally anything might happen.

"No. I heard some _conflicting_ reports, to be honest, and I came to see you for myself."

"And," Shego asked her.

"I think Kimberly is right. You need her help, and it's in your best interest to stay here, and get it."

Betty didn't miss the overt relief in the woman as she relaxed in her chair again, even managing a faint smile for the first time since Betty had entered the room.

"Thanks. I guess," the green-skinned woman finally remarked.

"It's more than that, of course," Betty added after a moment.

"It always is with you," Shego murmured quietly, but didn't put much spirit into the words.

"It's not what you think. Frankly, I'm still worried about Kimberly, too."

"Kim….?"

"I told you she quit. She also cut a lot of ties with her old friends. Even her….sidekick. All she seems to do is work."

"Sounds like you," Shego tried to quip.

"Two entirely different circumstances, Sherri. I think you're still smart enough to know that."

"So, what? You want me to tell her to go home more often, or something?"

"I want you to understand that Kimberly is probably just as fragile as you appear to be at the moment."

"She doesn't seem so," Shego murmured. "She's been….very strong," she said with a glance toward the door. "But all that aside, why don't you just cut the crap, and just tell me what you are really after here? I may not be the woman I was, but I'm not stupid, Bets. What do you really want?"

"Fair enough. I'll be blunt," Dr. Director told her as she straightened, and looked down at her. "Since you obviously still favor that approach. It is quite simple. I want you to help Kimberly forgive herself. I want you to find a way to ease whatever residual guilt she still carries, and perhaps even get her back into the game we both know she played so well."

"Why would I care," Shego asked her blandly after a moment.

"We both know that whatever else she is, Kim is best suited for the field. Not playing doctor in some institution. Sooner, or later, I think you'll reach the same conclusion. Just as, sooner, or later, I get the feeling we'll be back to chasing you, too. But right now, you aren't my major concern. Kimberly is, and I want your help in getting her to realize what her own best interests are here."

Shego said nothing as she simply stared at the one-eyed senior agent, remembering similar words from an earlier time.

Back when she was more naïve, and trusting.

Fighting the bitterness of her own memories, she finally asked, "Why should what Kim wants, or what she does now, matter either way to me?"

Betty shot her one of those smug expressions she managed so well, and leaned forward.

"You help me here, and we might be able to make a deal, Sherri. One that keeps _Shego_ dead, and out of the public eye," she suggested. "If that is really what you want now?"

Even as she appeared to waiting on a reply, a knock sounded, and Kim stepped inside. "That's time, Dr. Director. I'm going to have to ask you to leave now."

Betty simply nodded at Shego, and then walked to the door. "I know the way out. Good luck. _Both_ of you," she said as she glanced back at Shego.

"Are you all right," Kim asked as she returned after showing Betty back to the lobby, pointedly ensuring she was leaving.

"I'm fine, Kim," she smiled as Kim came in and sit on the end of her bed.

"Really."

"Really," Shego nodded.

"She didn't try….anything?"

"Nothing I didn't expect. Actually, she's as worried about you as she is me."

"I know what she worries about. One of her loopy strategists gave her the idea I might turn to the _dark_ _side_ if I'm not working for GJ. She's been shadowing me ever since."

"I wonder if it's the same loopy guys that did the _Ron_ _Factor_ study."

"You know about that one," she smiled as she shook her head.

"They wrote about it in Villain's Quarterly," she admitted with a rare smile. "It was hilarious."

"Yeah, it was," she agreed. "So, Hench's magazine editors had contacts inside GJ?"

"Jack has contacts everywhere," Shego admitted. "Or he did last I knew."

"I don't doubt it. The guy has charm," she admitted.

"So you have met him?"

"Once or twice. Back in the day."

"You really quit?"

"Yes," Kim finally nodded, her own smile fading.

"Because of me," she asked.

"I thought I had _killed_, Sherri. For me, that was…. It was too much. And I guess it proved I didn't have the stomach for certain….realities."

"No, Kimberly," Shego smiled back at her, reaching for her closest hand. "It proved you have principles. And people like Bets will _never_ understand people like you."

"Do you?"

"Yes. Yes, I do."

"But we need to talk about you now. Have you considered what I asked?"

Shego grimaced.

"I don't know. Hego…."

"Henry. Let's just stick to people. _Not_ masks. Remember?"

"Well, _Henry_ is pretty much as shallow as he seems. Trust me."

"He's still your brother. And I have to feel he did mourn your….passing, too. All your brothers, did. Are you sure you don't want to….."

"_No_," Shego snapped, and turned to stare out the window. "At least, not yet. Please," she asked, still looking off into the sky beyond her window.

"As I told you from the start, Sherri. It's your choice. On this journey, I'm just the guide."

"Thank you," she murmured. "I mean that, Kimberly," Shego turned to smile at her again. "Thank you, for everything."

Kim said nothing, but she did smile back.

_To Be Continued…._


	5. Chapter 5

_I do not own any Disney characters named herein, and am only borrowing them to tell a nonprofit tale meant for entertainment purposes only._

**Kim Possible: After the Fall **

**By LJ58**

**5**

Dr. Director scowled as she reviewed the weekly report from the tiny spy cam she had left in the room where Shego had come back to life.

In the fifteen days since she had left the tiny cam she had discreetly activated, and left hidden in the room's air vent, she had yet to find anything more shocking than that Shego really did seem to have lost her edge. She spent most of her time just staring into space, and only came alive when Kimberly appeared to oversee her treatment, or conduct her therapy sessions.

And they were the most unorthodox therapy sessions she had ever seen. True, Shego did seem to open up far more than she expected. Yet the pair seemed to spend more time weeping, or just smiling at each other than anything else.

At one point, they spent the entire time just hugging each other.

Just that. Hugging.

It was…. Disturbing.

After two full weeks of seeing the same unusual behavior from the both of them, she considered what to do about it.

She had to be honest with herself here. She had fully expected Shego to have come to life, and bolted by now knowing she was under her watchful eye. She fully expected to be chasing her down by now, and hopefully have Kim reenergized in that chase. Instead, the pair seemed more than content to just stay right where they were, sifting old missions, and older memories from the comet-powered woman's past. Some things which even Betty had not known, which surprised her.

Two weeks, and Kim had brought in three other objective, and licensed therapists who volunteered to use her cerebral immersion technique to validity those first astonishing results. Two weeks, and five more patients had come out of their comas under the professionals' guidance. She suspected Kim's new device would be getting some very popular press once it was revealed. Even Jia Manoveri's people weren't discussing her recovery as yet, only crediting it to Kim Possible's 'unique' approach to her condition.

So far, against the odds, Shego's miracle recovery, and apparent resurrection were still being concealed, too. Frankly, she half feared, and yes, half hoped that one of the staff might have leaked something by now. Apparently Dr. Stein really did have a very professional staff.

She considered arranging the leak herself, but one look at Possible of late, and she knew the woman was not rusty. Far from it.

That gaze had shown her an office carefully arranged, and the innocuous placement of certain articles told her practiced eye she had set up some serious security in that borrowed office. She still carried a Kimmunicator of sorts judging by the peculiar design of the watch she wore, and that meant she was likely still conferring with Wade after all this time. That, of course, explained how she managed to build the CM unit without alerting anyone outside her circle.

Then, too, there was the feeling that she got just from studying the woman herself. She wouldn't doubt that the redhead, if not both of them, probably already knew that mini-cam was there, and perversely left it in place just to mess with her.

Which meant she could well arrange her leak, but then they might just use it against her. Ethical charges aside, she didn't think Kim was joking about her doctor-patient confidentiality.

Betty had checked, too. While she already guessed it, she found the woman was indeed already a fully licensed therapist. One with her twin masters in electrical engineering and psychotherapy. Only a Possible would have considered melding those two disciplines. Now she also had her doctorate about to be confirmed with a very successful study, making her just one more doctor in the string of Doctors Possible.

In short, Kimberly was remaining as impressive as ever.

So, what could she do about this untenable situation? Because if things continued as they were, both women were going to be living quiet lives beyond her control. That unsettled her. Not because she was the controlling sort many claimed, but because she knew their world needed women like Possible on the front lines to face the very daunting challenges yet to be managed.

Whatever else, she couldn't loose her.

Just then, however, she wasn't sure how to manage her.

Not with her current successes taking her further and further from the path Betty envisioned for the redhead.

Nine out of fourteen patients, with a tenth looking 'promising.' Then, too, the look into a comatose mind was not something to dismiss. The soon-to-be Dr. Possible was going to be revolutionizing medical care, because even she could see the CM Projector would be a unique and effective tool for therapy, and possibly even rehabilitation if harnessed properly.

Betty drummed her fingers as she realized that such fame could make her potential protégé even harder to lure back into action. Only she was not seeing any viable way to lure her back without some kind of intervention. Unfortunately, any intervention she could think of also represented serious chances of serious backlash in her own face.

Not good. Not good at all.

She had made a long career of making impossible decisions, and figuring out how to turn them to her advantage. Just now, however, all her experience couldn't seem to solve this one.

It had been a calculated risk even letting Possible into the one place where she was certain to find Shego was still alive. One she thought might help the woman get over her martyr's complex, and get back to the real work for which she was so aptly suited. Instead, she was even more fixed on the allegedly deceased felon, and ironically, Shego was apparently fixating on her, too.

Talk about transference!

She paused, her fingers hovering over her desk as she reviewed the week's report, and slowly began to smile.

Of course. If she couldn't lure Possible back, then give her…. Give them _both_ a reason to feel more than a degree of gratitude.

"Ms. Goode," she addressed her newest receptionist with a stab of the intercom. "Get me the attorney general."

She groaned as the clumsy woman fumbled with something, then asked the obvious.

"Yes, Ms. Goode. The one in _Washington_."

She released the intercom switch with a shake of her head. Good help was so hard to find. Still, Will was better suited to running the European branch for her since he had so obviously matured, and come into his own as one of her best agents to date. She still hoped Possible would be joining that elite group. If she was clever enough, Betty might yet make that happen.

If she could just sway the American authorities to accept her reasoning.

**KP**

"I don't know about this," Shego said as she sat hunched down in the passenger seat of Kim's car. An unlikely heap that should have been recalled years ago, but she claimed was quite safe thanks to her brothers rebuilding the thing for her.

Knowing about those twin terrors from their long talks did not inspire confidence in her.

That was not her primary issue just then.

Kim understood what she meant, of course. Shego wasn't ready to see her family, but with the year ending, Kim was due to go home on a regular holiday visit. That she was also celebrating the new doctorate, and private funding of her CM program only added to her own high spirits.

What fretted Shego was that she was invited to go home with her, and that Dr. Director had allowed it without batting her eye.

"She wants something," Kim had decided after mulling over her easy acquiescence.

"Always," Shego had agreed. Still, while Shego had been happy to get out of her 'cell,' as she deemed it, she was still uneasy about facing Kim's family. She had, after all, been part of the plot to destroy their family as much as the world. And it had almost worked.

At first, she had let Kim talk her into it, just wanting to get out again. Now, the closer they got to Middleton, and the Possible household, the more uneasy she grew.

"Don't worry. I let mom know two days ago, and she's broken the news to dad and the boys by now. She also said you are more than welcome. Although, to be honest, I think she's got a professional interest here."

"Professional….?"

"She is a neurosurgeon, and a very good doctor. She's probably curious to see how you….."

Kim noted the pale woman looking even paler, and reached over to pat her clenched hand.

"Relax. My mom may ask you a few questions, but she's not going to experiment on you. I promise."

Shego eyed her, forced herself to unwind a bit, and gave a weak laugh. "How did I get so lucky, Princess. Anyone else would have….."

"Forget about it. I have," she told her as she turned off the interstate to the road she knew well by now. The road that led her home.

"Sometimes I forget how really _nice_ you are," Shego said quietly. "After that whole thing with Drakken, and his synthodrone, I thought….."

"Sherri," she told her, shaking her head as she turned into the neighborhood she knew quite well by then. "You apologized, and I accepted, knowing you were sincere. Let it go. Okay?"

"I'm trying,' She said quietly. "It's just…. Ever since I woke up….."

"I know. I do understand. Just give yourself time. Like I told you, your body might have healed, but your mind and heart still have some major catching up to do."

"What if I….. Suppose I 'wake up,' and….."

She turned on the street where her family still lived in spite of many neighborhood petitions, and saw her dad's car in the drive. The garage door was down, so she couldn't tell if her mother's van was there, or not. Then again, she had not given a time.

"Sherri, I know Betty expects that. And, let's be honest, it is a possibility. But after seeing the real you inside your own mind, I think you don't give yourself enough credit. Whatever happens, though, I hope you know I'm not your enemy. Not any more. I would still like to be your friend."

"Even if I…..went back," she asked as Kim pulled into the drive.

"Even then," Kim told her, and reached out to pat, then squeeze her hand again.

"I don't deserve you," she said, then blushed dark emerald. "I mean…..!"

"Chill, Sherri," she laughed lightly. "I understand."

Shego blushed again, and then sighed as the door opened, and twin faces stared out at them.

"Wow, she did show," one of the young teens exclaimed, eyeing Shego, not Kim. "You owe me fifty, loser!"

"Fine. But you still owe me two hundred from our last bet!"

"Are you two still betting over everything," Kim laughed as she climbed out of the car, Shego climbing out a bit slower as she eyed them uneasily when they came to help with the luggage.

"Duh," they remarked in stereo before Jim added, "How else are we going to fund our own lab before we're eighteen?"

Shego just stared.

"Are they serious," she asked as she followed Kim to the door while the boys dug out their luggage. Not that Shego had much. Only what Kim had bought her since she had woke.

"Trust me, they are," she smiled. "They're already working on their masters, and they intend to be set up and running before they get their doctorates."

"In what?"

"I don't think even they know. Yet," she laughed softly. "They just want to have a real lab."

Shego had nothing to say to that as they reached the door just as Ann Possible opened it.

"Kim," the older redhead smiled, and hugged her even as she glanced over at Shego.

"And, hello, Shego….."

"Actually…. I prefer Sherri right now," she told her. "If you….don't mind?"

"Of course not," she smiled, and stunned her by turning to hug her next. "Welcome. Come on inside. Your father is upstairs cleaning up just now. Another accident at the lab," she confided.

"Nothing bad," Kim asked as she followed her mother inside with Shego at her side.

"Not unless you count being drenched in hydraulic fluid bad," Dr. James Possible grinned as he came down the stairs, hair damp, cheeks flushed, and looking more than a little chagrined.

"Hydraulic fluid, dad," Kim frowned.

"Well, how was I supposed to know that hatch was an emergency dump? In my day they labeled things properly. None of that silly texting slang they use these days."

Kim only smiled as she went to hug him. "I'm just glad it wasn't serious."

"Well, we did get our launch postponed," he grinned again.

"Which he was pushing to do anyway, since he kept insisting the new guidance system wasn't up to snuff," Ann added slyly.

"Dad," Kim turned back to him even as he set eyes on Shego. "Are you sure that was an accident?"

"Of course, Kimmie-cub," he smiled innocently. "Why wouldn't it have been?"

"Honey, this is Sherri. The woman Kim has been helping."

"Hello," he nodded and held out his hand. "I guess I don't have to tell you that you're in good hands. My little girl is the best, after all," he praised her with a wink.

"Dad," Kim groaned. Then turned to her mother. "Mom," she asked quietly.

"You know your father, dear," she murmured back.

She sighed, then nodded. She did know him.

"Shall we have a seat," Ann asked, leading them on into the living room. "Sherri, would you like some tea?"

"That would be nice," she agreed as she sat down next to Kim.

"I won't be a minute. Honey," the neurosurgeon addressed her husband, "Why don't you tell Kimberly about your new project. She might have an idea or two she could offer."

"Well," the rocket scientist grinned, and eagerly began to tell them of his newest space probe that supposed to be using a genuine AI to run the entire probe without needing constant monitoring from ground support. If, that is, they ever got the guidance system to work properly, he added a bit peevishly.

**KP**

"You doing all right here," Kim asked later that evening, walking into the guest room where Shego lay on the bed, propped up by pillows, and reading a paperback she had brought with her from the facility.

"Pretty good," the woman nodded, setting her book aside. "Your folks really are pretty nice. And pretty unbelievable."

"They're big on redemption," she assured her. "Trust me, even _I_ gave them plenty of practice in that respect."

"I'm betting so do your brothers," she said teasingly.

Kim smiled. "Sucker bet."

"So. A doctorate inside of three years? Guess you really can do anything."

"My brothers intend to try it in one."

"Naturally. Is there anyone normal in your family," she quipped. Then instantly paled, and babbled, "I didn't mean….!"

"Sherri. It's all right. Trust me, for our family, this _is_ normal."

Shego just stared at her from the bed.

Kim walked over to the bed, sitting down, and faced the woman.

"Relax, Sherri. I'm not your brother. I'm not going to condemn you for speaking your mind. Remember? I told you that from the start."

"I know. I know. It's just…."

"You're still used to pushing people away, or testing them to see if they will push you?"

The woman gave a weak grin, then remarked, "Wow, you do know me now, don't you?"

"Not completely. But I'd like to think we're making progress."

"Kimberly…"

"Yes?"

"Don't you…..date? I mean, all this time, and…..?"

"No. I….pretty much stay busy with my work."

"So, no one?"

"No," Kim told her honestly.

"How long?"

Kim said nothing at first.

"Not since….?"

"Eric," Kim nodded.

"Damn, Princess," she murmured. "I'm really…"

"It wasn't your fault. Not really. We've already covered that, too. Sherri," she said firmly.

"I know that. I know."

"Sherri?"

"Could you…. I'd like…."

Kim understood, and leaned forward to simply hug her.

"I think I'm getting too used to this," Sherri murmured as she lay her head on Kim's shoulder.

"Everyone likes to be hugged," Kim told her. "Some of us need it."

"You, too?"

Kim couldn't help but blush, grateful she wasn't looking at her just then, but said very softly, "Even me."

Sherri lifted her head, and stared hard into her eyes.

"Is that why you hug me? Because you need it? Or just because you think I…"

"Maybe both, Sherri," she told her with a warm smile. "And because I'm just really, _really_ glad that you aren't dead."

"Does that mean you might…..go back to the…..hero biz? I mean, my return does let you off the hook, so to speak."

"No," Kim said firmly, her grasp on the woman tightening for a moment. "No, I….. I'm out. I'm done. I never want to risk repeating my…crime, Sherri. I never want to feel that way again."

Shego sighed. "I wouldn't have blamed you if I had…. You know, Kim. I don't blame you."

"Maybe, but it was still wrong. I was wrong. I was out of control."

"But, Kim," Shego told her. "If you aren't out there, who is stopping the people you used to stop? What about the people you used to help?"

"I'm still helping," Kim protested as she released the woman, and sat back to study her. "People like you. Who really need help. And I'm doing it without risking lives. Or taking them."

Shego said nothing to that at first.

"You're better than that," Kim was told. "You're better than me."

"Sherri…..?"

"I….. I made a mistake, too. Only I didn't learn from it. I won't….talk about it. But just look where it led me, Kim," she said quietly, leaning back against her pillows again. "Look what it almost cost me. You. Both of us."

"Sherri….."

"Whatever happened to your….. To Stoppable?"

"We went different ways."

Shego sighed heavily as she looked up at the ceiling now. "I hate to think that the feisty little do-gooder that used to kick my butt gave up just because she thought she put me down. Especially since I would be the last person to argue I needed putting down."

"Shego!" she blurted.

"I'm a realist, Princess," she smiled wanly. "I was a bad girl, doing bad things. Stuff like that tower? That's part of the risk for me. I can guarantee you, if anyone else had put me over the side, they would have probably ensured they had finished the job without batting an eye."

"That's not the way I work," Kim murmured. "Worked."

"No. No, I know it's not. And don't you see, Kim? That's why you need to be out there. Who do you want saving the world. Someone that will value even the bad guys' lives? Or someone that will just walk in, and take out anyone in their way just to hit their target?"

"I don't get it, Sherri. Are you suddenly arguing that I should…..?'

"We both know Bets wants you back. We both know you're a bit restless, and are using this science thing just to occupy your mind, and your time. But I saw you working out in the institute gym last week. You haven't gone soft. If anything, you're still as fit as ever. So what is stopping you from…..?"

"I won't be part of that world anymore, Sherri," she told her somberly.

"I was going to say…. What is stopping you from finding your own way to keep doing what I know you used to enjoy? Just because you go back to saving….anybody…..doesn't mean you have to follow their rules, Princess. That's what I used to love about you. The fact you did your own thing, and still got the job done despite the odds."

"Did Dr. Director hire you to sway me," Kim asked with a tinge of bitterness now as she started to stand up.

"No," Shego said, reaching to grab her hands before she could rise. "No, she didn't hire me," she said quickly as Kim let her drag her back down to the bed. "But we both know that harpy, Kim. Sooner or later she's going to try something that might blow up in all our faces. I thought…. Wouldn't it be better to do things your own way, in your own time, than have her try to manipulate us again."

"Us," Kim murmured.

"C'mon, Kimmie," she smiled ruefully now. "You've met Hego. Do you really think _he_ put together the idea, and the ability and resources to build Go Tower on his own? We had some unofficial funding at the start. Then the strings started tangling us up. More and more until…. Well, I've noticed that even now the guys don't seem like they bother going out much anymore," she said, then added, "Not publicly."

"Well, there's no way she can put strings on me," Kim huffed, but didn't move. Didn't shake off her hands. "She has nothing on me."

"Doesn't she?"

Kim just frowned.

"Me, Kim. _Me_. She probably knows we've gotten…..close. I wouldn't put it past her to use me against you. And I don't want that to happen. I'd rather…. I'd rather be back in a coma," Shego told her flatly.

"Shego," she gasped, blurting out that name for the second time as she impulsively leaned forward to hug her again. "Don't say that. Don't _ever_ say that again!"

Shego sighed, letting the girl hug her as they lay back in the bed. "I'm sorry. I just…. I don't want that harpy's claws in you. She tried that with me, and you…. Well, you saw the way I ended up trying to escape her games."

"So, that mistake….was with….?"

"It was….complicated. But it was all wrapped up with that bitch, and she just stands there acting like nothing touches her. She'd do the same with you, Princess," Shego sniffed as she continued to hold her. "And in the end, if things go south, she'd pretend she never knew a thing. She'd just wash her hands of you, and go on. I know she would. It's what she does. She'd sacrifice the whole damn world so long as she got what she wanted for that precious agency of hers."

"You really think she'd try to use you against me?"

"I know she will. It's probably the only reason she hasn't said or done anything yet. She's waiting to allow us to…..get closer. I know how she thinks," she spat bitterly.

"I used to think I did."

"Well, I do. I grew up under her heel, so to speak."

"But…. You were children," Kim frowned.

"And you were sooooo old the first time you crashed Drew's lair," Shego suddenly laughed, looking up into her green eyes with a suddenly mischievous smirk.

"I…. Well, I…. We were kind of cocky, weren't we," she said, and gave a soft giggle as she suddenly remembered Ron standing there imitating her power stance, declaring, "_It is I, Ron Stoppable_!"

"We had fun," Shego told her. "I remembered thinking, '_Doy, they sent in the junior squad_?' But then you practically kicked my butt before I could blink. Before I could even think of getting serious. And you only got better. If it weren't for my powers, you might have put me in the hospital for good at times."

Kim's smile suddenly faded at another memory.

"Hey, that's not what I meant. Just tell me, when you faced all those….ordinary guys? All those dim henches? Did you ever once permanently hurt them?"

"Well, no."

"Because you knew to pull your punches. You didn't use lethal strikes I know you could use if you wanted. But I could take them. Did take them. That tower, Princess, was not your fault. Drew and I pushed your buttons but good, but even I….. Even I didn't realize just how far I had pushed you that day. Just about as far, I can see now, as Bets pushed me before I made the break. But even then, you stayed true to yourself," she said, framing Kim's flushed face in her hands. "You can say you gave up, but I know better. I see it in your eyes. You're just waiting for the right opening. The right….."

Their lips suddenly brushed as Kim lay there staring into her former rival's eyes, and heat blossomed in new and curious ways as the innocuous kiss became a passionate clench. Shego's hands slid back down her shoulders, her sides, and wrapped around her body as she pulled Kim closer as the kiss deepened.

A mutual groan of burgeoning desire swelled in their throats for a moment, only to die stillborn as a soft, but audible sound of someone clearing their throat sounded from the door.

The open door.

"Not that I'm a prude, ladies," Ann Possible drawled from where she leaned against the door. "But don't you think you should close the door if you two intend to try that? Especially with two _very_ impressionable teenagers still in the house?"

"Mommmmmm," Kim moaned, not looking up as she buried her face in Shego's shoulder, her face very nearly as red as her hair just then.

"Sorry, Dr. Possible," Shego murmured, more composed than her host's daughter just then. "We just…..got carried away. It was my fault…."

"Sherri, I'd say the blame, such as it is, should be shared equally. Just try to be discreet, girls. Kim knows how bad her brothers can be _without_ such potent ammunition."

"Ammunition," Shego asked as Ann closed the door, and walked away without further comment.

"Oh," Kim sighed, still blushed as her eyes glittered a bit as she absorbed the fact her mother had just caught her…..kissing her patient/guest, and walked off after closing the door on them without making her leave.

"I'm sorry," Kim sighed, sitting back up now, but still looking very interested from the way her eyes seemed fixed on Shego's lips. "I just…. I shouldn't have…."

"We're both adults, Princess," Shego told her. "To be honest, I've wanted to do that for a while now."

"You…. You did?"

"I did. I don't know why. I just…. I think I really am….. Gah, talk about clichés," she laughed when Kim just stared. "Falling for your doctor. Or therapist, or whatever you are now."

"I don't even want to consider the ethical parameters of this one," Kim admitted.

"We were never about boundaries, Princess," Shego told her earnestly. "But, spill. What did your mother mean about the terrible twins, and ammunition?"

"My senior year, they celebrated being skipped into high school early by posting my diary on their blog. My entire diary," she grumbled.

"That bad?"

"It started in fifth grade, with my first crush. It went right up to the moment I confessed I thought something was…."

"Yes," Shego asked when Kim faltered.

"Well, I wondered if something….weren't wrong with me."

"You? Was it because of…..me?"

"In part. I was mostly fixating on….Eric, and the fact I couldn't seem to find, or keep a nice guy. A _real_ nice guy. I finally just decided I was meant to be…alone."

"I used to think the same way," Shego admitted. "So, how bad did you beat them up?"

"Who?"

"Your brothers? All the little jerks that made fun of you? Anyone?"

"I…..didn't do anything like that. I just….swallowed it, and went to college. That's when I found out how fast I could finish classes by not being distracted by boys, or missions, or….."

"Life," Shego asked, brushing a red lock back from her forehead.

Kim said nothing to that as Shego kept one hand on her nearest hand.

"You keep on, Possible," Shego quipped, "And one day you'll wake up surrounded by your degrees, and nothing else. I don't think you really want that."

Kim stayed quiet as she stared at the hand holding hers. The pale green fingers folded around her own, and she found herself fixed on it.

"I think….. I never wrote it down, but….. I think the reason I never found the right man was….. I was looking in the wrong place."

"Wrong place?"

"Yeah," Kim said, raising her gaze to Shego's. "Because not long after high school, I realized I wasn't looking for the right _man_. I was looking….."

"Oh. Oh, snap," Shego murmured as Kim's eyes bore into her.

"For the right woman," they said in tandem.

"Jinx," Kim smiled softly. "You owe me….."

"I know what I owe you," Shego growled, sounding a bit more like herself. Right before she jerked her back down atop her, and their lips mashed firmly together once more.

This time, there were no interruptions.

_To Be Continued….._


	6. Chapter 6

_I do not own any Disney characters named herein, and am only borrowing them to tell a nonprofit tale meant for entertainment purposes only._

**Kim Possible: After the Fall **

**By LJ58**

**6**

Jim and Tim were just staggering down the hall toward the stairs when Kim opened the door to the guest bedroom.

From the inside.

Both boys froze as the teens realized Kim was not in her own room. Or alone.

Their eyes rounded at the sight of Shego, in a very snug robe, standing right behind Kim, and leaning down to kiss her nape.

"Be down in a few, Princess," the green-skinned woman drawled huskily before the door closed behind her, leaving Kim standing and staring at her brothers.

"You have something to say, tweebs," she said in a tone they both knew all too well.

"Not a word," Jim assured her in genuine shock, shaking his head.

"What's to say," Tim protested, his own head moving. "Uh, breakfast," he asked, and both boys bolted.

Kim couldn't help but grin after them as she walked over to her door, and went on to the bathroom to shower.

The night with Shego had not exactly been planned, but to her, that only made it all the more special. Even if the night's revelations were shocking, even to herself. The last thing she ever expected in her admittedly unusual life was to end up sharing a night of passion with a woman that used to try to beat her senseless on a nearly constant basis. A woman she once thought she had killed, and had miraculously brought back from what was essentially living death.

The Berne Institute could continue trials without her now, she knew, and technically, Shego was hardly a candidate for a patient any longer anyway. Especially, as unlike the others that woke to the necessity of weeks or months of physical therapy, and some serious readjustment, she was physically whole from the start. She just needed to readjust to the reality of a changed world around her. Not quite as dramatically as the poor young woman that woke up twelve years older, but still, even Shego had some readjusting to do. She was just better off in other respects.

Something, she realized, that others might exploit. Just as Shego had warned.

By the time she dressed in dark slacks, with a pale green top, she was starting to consider a means of diffusing such a situation even as she walked down to breakfast to find Shego already there, looking freshly groomed, and the object of the twins' wide-eyed stares.

"Morning, mom. Dad already gone?"

"He had to go in early, dear. You recall his _accident_. He wanted to pull the navigational array for more fine-tuning before anyone could argue."

"That does sound like him," she chuckled.

"It sounds like you, too, dear," Ann reminded her. "I still recall a few of your….conversations with Upperton Labs when they were helping you build that prototype of your CM unit."

"I wasn't that bad," she protested.

"You threatened to break the fingers of every tech in the lab if they didn't keep their hands off your circuit boards," Tim volunteered.

"And that was after you suggested…."

"They were messing things up," she huffed, cutting Tim off when Shego started to smirk at her. "They actually thought I was just trying to create some kind of mind control device, and wanted to help reset all the neural frequencies I had already programmed. Why would they even know what frequencies affect people's minds," she demanded. "They were interns!"

"So, Kimmie does have a temper," Shego asked with a grin.

"You should know that already," Jim declared. "I mean, she did…..!"

"Jim," Ann snapped at him.

"Ixnay, on the temper, bro," Tim hissed, seeing that gleam in Kim's eyes.

"Just swallowed it, did you," Shego leaned over to murmur in Kim's ear. "Pull the other one, gorgeous," she called her.

Unfortunately for Kim, it made it look like Shego had simply leaned over to kiss her.

"Oh…..My…..God," Jim rasped as both boys stared. Then looked at one another before blurting out in stereo, "Kim's got a _girlfriend_!"

"Jealous," Shego asked them smugly. Unable to help teasing them, or Kim.

"You don't know the half of it," Ann remark as she poured fresh coffee into their cups, leaving the boys to drink juice.

"Mom," both boys protested.

"Eat. You two still have school today. Remember?"

"Ah, but we were going to….."

"School," she cut Tim off. "Just because you're in college is no reason to slack off now. In fact, it's especially not the time to slack off if you plan to graduate next term."

"Already," Kim blinked.

Jim snorted. "Please. Just because _you_ took almost two years to get your Bachelor's….."

"Doesn't mean _we_ are that dim," Tim finished.

"Boys," Ann told them. "Bear in mind you still have a commute to consider if you plan to get to your first class on time. And no flying! Denver International is still upset you buzzed their tower last month without a transponder."

"It was just a joke," Tim grumbled.

"Their car flies," Shego frowned at the neurosurgeon.

"Their motorcycles," Ann sighed. "They wouldn't settle for cars."

"I rather like my car," Kim murmured over the rim of her mug as she grinned at the boys.

"Of course you do," they both drawled. "Since _we_ built it for you."

"And I appreciate it," Kim informed them as she reached for the bacon her mother had just put on the table before sitting down to her own cup of coffee. She had, Kim guessed, likely already eaten earlier when her dad had gotten up.

"So, what are you guys going to do? Some last minute shopping," she was asked by the boys with wagging brows.

"I've already got you tweebs something, so forget the hints," she told them. "I do need to do some shopping, though. I thought Shego and I would both go into town for a bit later. You need anything picked up, mom," she asked, knowing her mother made her own schedule at the hospital these days.

"No, thank you, honey. I'm good. You girls just enjoy yourself."

Which, of course, made Kim blush, Shego grin, and the boys snigger.

Shego only smiled, feeling very much relaxed, and carefree just then.

**KP**

"Is that….?"

"Isn't she supposed to be….?"

"But why is she with…..?"

The murmurs continued all around her, right up to the moment that Officer Hobble himself showed up, and simply nodded at Kim as he caught them coming out of the mall with their arms filled with bags.

"Kimberly?"

"Officer Hobble," she smiled back as she paused, and gave a reassuring smile Shego's way.

"Do I need to ask, Kimberly? Because, I will admit, I'm very curious, and a little confused. As are half the callers that demanded we investigate."

"If you'll let me put my bags in the car, officer, I'll explain everything. I even have the appropriate paperwork to reassure the usual authorities that Sharonda is not only legit, but under my care."

"Sharonda, is it," he murmured, eyeing Shego. "Is that so? Well, then lead the way, ladies," he said, leaving his cruiser parked in front of the new mall that had replaced the old mini-mall a few years ago. "Not that your word isn't still enough for me, but you know how the new chief likes the formalities checked off on paper."

"I do, indeed," she assured him, having finally met the new police chief just last year when she pummeled the mugger that had tried to steal her purse. Said mugger was crying for a lawyer, wanting to sue, and the chief had informed her she should let the proper authorities handle such matters in the future. She suggested there would be less crime if they quit coddling delinquents, and knocked some sense into them. Her mugger was all of sixteen at the time.

She later learned he was earning points for a live video game RPG he and his friends had conjured up in their boredom. Apparently, there were extra points for taking on the former heroine of Middleton.

Morons.

Shego was very quiet as they went to the car, put their purchases away, and just stood back as Kim pulled out the papers that put Shego/Sharonda Gordeaux in her care as a licensed therapist with various notaries signed to authenticate the forms.

"So," he murmured, eyeing Shego as he commented, "You were really a coma patient," he asked, proving he really read the papers.

"Until recently," Shego murmured quietly, and Kim noted she was being uncharacteristically timid considering her former manner.

"Turning over a new leaf, then, are we?"

"I…. I'm trying," she finally said when Kim simply nodded at her, and the burly officer who waited for her reply.

"Glad to hear it, Miss Gordeaux," he surprised her by saying that sincerely as he handed the papers back to Kim. "Merry Christmas, ladies, and good luck to you," he nodded to Shego. "Not that you'll need it," he added. "You've obviously got the best little lady in the world on your side, don't you, now?"

The man turned and strolled off whistling, pausing to shoo a curious crowd gathering at the front doors of the mall, declaring, "Nothing to see, you scandal-mongers. Get on with your shopping, you greedy devils," before climbing into his car, and driving away.

"I can't believe it. That actually worked," Shego rasped as she climbed into the small Roth with Kim.

"Of course. I told you everything would be fine."

"But….will it stay that way," she asked, her euphoria over shopping for herself wearing off as Kim pulled out, and maneuvered to the crowded main street as they left the mall.

"Actually, I've been thinking about that."

"Have you?"

"Sherri… Last night….."

"I know," she sighed, expecting this for most of the day. "We got carried away. _I_ got carried away. I….."

"It was special to me, too, Sherri," she told her as she paused for the light that turned just as they reached the intersection.

"Oh. I….. I was afraid….."

"Like I said last night, Sherri. Maybe there was a valid reason that I couldn't find the right guy."

Shego only smiled as a big truck pulled up beside her door on the far lane, and revved its engine.

"Hey, sweet things," the man shouted, his window down despite the brisk chill of the air that suggested the delayed snow was not that far away. "You babes looking for….. Holy crap, Dean, that bitch is _green_!"

Shego cringed, and for one unguarded moment, Kim saw genuine pain in her dark eyes as the woman shrank in her seat.

"I'm sorry," Kim told her, reaching for what Shego took to be the radio.

"For what," she asked as Kim pulled forward even as the truck revved, masking part of whatever the man and his friend were shouting now. Then the truck lurched behind them, and sat there as Kim drove away.

"Don't worry," Kim told her quietly. "They won't follow. And I just tinted the windows so no one can see in any longer."

Shego glanced at the glass.

"It doesn't look….."

"Inverse polarization. We see out, but they can't see in."

Shego impulsively craned her neck to see the truck was still back at the intersection, causing quite the snarl as it just sat there, the men gesturing wildly as Kim drove on.

"What happened?"

"I fired a mini-EMP into their engine," she smirked. "They won't be bothering anyone again until they replace their electrical system, because it's completely fried. Let them explain that one to the police," she told Shego with a degree of smugness.

"Something tells me you've used that one before," Shego murmured, settling back into her seat after glancing back at the snarled traffic one last time.

"Maybe once or twice," she told her companion.

"Uh-huh. So you just….swallow that temper, huh?"

Kim smiled crookedly. "I could have done a lot worse," she told her. "I prefer to arrange things so they have time to cool off, and think about things."

"Well, they'll have a lot of time now. I doubt that truck's electrical systems are going to be cheap."

"Probably not," Kim agreed.

"So," Shego murmured. "Kimmie does have a dark side," she teased.

And regretted it as now Kim sobered, and look melancholy as she focused on the road.

"I didn't mean…."

"I know. I know," Kim murmured as they kept going. "It's just….. Sherri, we all have a dark side. It's part of being human. I came face-to-face with part of mine a few years ago, and I didn't like it. I think….deep down, you didn't like yours either. But….."

"I still embraced it," she nodded. "I kept getting deeper and deeper, until I just didn't know how to quit," Shego admitted. "Even when...I wanted to quit."

"Then I kicked you off that roof."

"Kim…."

"Yeah. We're both still rehashing things, aren't we," the redhead said with a weak laugh.

"No. Look," she pointed as they pulled up in front of her parent's house.

Standing to one side, leering at them as they pulled up, was a man with skin as blue as the sky, wearing a familiar lab coat of even darker blue.

"Oh, man. Not now," Kim moaned. "Mom is so going to kill me if he starts any trouble here," she said as she parked, and shut off the engine.

The two women climbed out of the car, and Dr. Drakken, looking the same as he had years past, glared at Kimberly as he declared, "I _finally_ found you, Kim Possible! I must say, it is hard to keep track of you. You'd think you'd stay put since you supposedly quit your jetting about, but, noooooooo. You still disappear at odd times, and…"

He froze as he saw the woman who moved around the side of the car to stand with Kim as Drakken stood in the yard near a hovercraft, facing them with a small, metallic pistol of some kind aimed at them.

"_Shego_," he blurted out incredulously, gaping at her now. Then again, "_Shego_?"

Neither woman said anything as he looked from one to the other, and then demanded, "What is going on here?"

"Let's just grab the gizmo, and get out of here, Drakken. If'n you don't mind? I don't like standing about with me kilt flapping in this breeze," a familiar drawl filled Kim's ears as she turned to see another familiar face emerge from the side of the house with a golf club in his beefy hands.

"Killigan," Kim frowned. "Okay, I give up. Just what do you two want here?"

"What do we…..? I want to know why Shego isn't dead," Drakken roared. Then flushed as both women rolled their eyes, and then he added, "_And_ I want the cerebral manipulator you invented, but are obviously using for plebian purposes when _I_ could use it so much more effectively to…."

"It's a modulator, not a manipulator, you loon. So, get over it," Kim told him, juggling her key ring. "The only thing you two are getting is a butt kicking if you don't climb in that kiddie car of yours, and leave. Now."

"Not without my machine! Or my Shego!"

"_Your_ Shego," Duff and Kim both echoed.

Shego just stared.

"Yes! We're an evil family. You must know that. Or we were. Until you killed her! Or I thought you killed her! Gah! It doesn't matter. Just do as I say and I won't turn you into an ant-sized pest to be crushed beneath my heel," Drakken growled.

"Why not just shrink her now, then grab the machine, and the green lassie after."

"Grab…..?"

Shego turned to stare at him. "No one is grabbing anyone, you bearded moron," she growled, her hands starting to rise.

"Wait," Shego was told as Kim still simply stood at the back of her car, yet to move.

"But they…..?"

"Trust me," she murmured, and Drakken shouted again, "I knew it! You used your machine to reprogram my lackey. Well, I want her back! Do you hear me? I…!"

"Oh, give over. Just blast the wench, and let's get on with it," Duff demanded, dropping four suspect golf balls before him even as he spoke.

"We need her to get in the house, you addled cretin," Drakken shot back, taking his eyes off both women now to yell at his apparent partner. "We couldn't get through the security before, so I doubt we could if she's only ant-sized! She'd be too small to open the door!"

"Kimmie….."

"Wait," Kim put a hand on her arm, the other still holding her key ring.

Shego frowned, but lowered her hands again.

"Let's just show the lassies we're serious," the rogue golfer grinned maliciously, and sliced a ball right toward the rear of her car.

The ball impacted, and exploded with enough force to scorch the concrete. While Shego had instinctively started to duck, Kim's free hand grabbed her shoulder, and kept her beside her. Even as the explosion flashed back and out, making Duff leap aside from the backlash he had created.

In doing so, he stepped on a sensor he had apparently evaded earlier, and a glowing ball of shimmering energy suddenly engulfed him. He, however, didn't seem to notice as he tried to launch another ball that ricocheted around him in the five foot enclosure now holding him, and finally dropped down to rest at his feet with the other two balls.

He looked down in alarm, and groaned, "Oh….. Snap."

Right before all three balls exploded and left him laying sprawled unconscious, and very scorched inside the containment sphere her brother's rigged up for trespassers.

Drakken turned and glared at them after watching his partner-in-crime go down so easily, and stared hard at them.

"Meh, you still have to be difficult," he grumbled at the redhead. "Well, let's see how difficult you are when you're only…"

The yellow bolt of energy he fired flashed out, impacted the shield still around Kim and Shego, and made Drakken howl as he leapt aside when it rebounded toward him. An instant later, and the neighbors had a three inch mailbox in front of their drive.

By then, Kim had stepped forward, slapped the ray device from his hands, and grabbed him in both hands.

"You have a lot of nerve coming back here after what you did," she growled, and one hand released him, only so it could curl in a fist she aimed at his jaw.

"Not the face," he howled in genuine fear.

"Princess," Shego murmured, putting a hand over her fist. "Let me. Please."

Kim eyed her, then Drakken, and just dropped him. He collapsed at their feet, but didn't stay there. Shego reached down, picked him up to stare into his eyes for a moment without speaking, and then finally cleared her throat.

"Uhm…. Shego," he murmured uneasily.

"Doc."

"I really am….quite…..confused. And concerned. I….."

"First, I quit. Second, do not ever….and I stress _ever_…..bother my Princess again," she told him, and threw him fourteen feet across the yard to bounce off his hovercraft. Where he landed on top of another of the sensors buried ins the yard.

Drakken tried to jump up, but the containment field kept him right where he was, on hands and knees.

"_Shego_!"

"_My_ Princess," Kim grinned.

Shego blushed as she walked back over to her side.

"I don't mind," Kim admitted as she turned back to the car after picking up his shrink ray, and sliding it into her pocket before deactivating the security system to reach for the car door.

"So, how did you do that," she had to ask Kim, completely ignoring the whining and wailing man she had worked for far too long. "With the bouncing balls, and all?"

"My car has an EM envelope. As long as we were close, it protected us, too."

"Wow. No wonder we could never beat you guys for long. Drew never would have thought up something like that. How strong is it," she asked curiously as she eyed the small, purple car as Kim reached for their bags.

"Let's just say I can go suborbital without my ears popping. And stay there as long as I like."

"In that," Shego squeaked, staring at the small coupe.

Kim nodded as she pulled out her cell phone next.

"_That_," Shego demanded again as Kim called 911 to clean up her yard.

Hanging up a minute later, she grinned, asking, "Want to try it sometime?"

Shego was already shaking her head as Kim opened the door to start pulling out their bags. "Never. Not in this lifetime. Or the next."

"I thought you liked to fly," she grinned.

"I do. In a jet. A _real_ jet. Wait a….. So when your mother said your brothers' motorcycles flew…..?"

"They use magnetic propulsion to give them aerodynamic lift. With the stabilzers Wade helped them refine, they could probably outfly most spy planes."

Shego couldn't help but laugh, shaking her head as she helped carry their bags to the front door. Kim simply put her thumb on an innocuous doorbell, and the door opened. Had anyone else tried it, they would be in a containment bubble waiting to be let out, too.

"And I thought my family was strange," she said, shaking her head as Drakken continued to hammer impotently at his invisible prison, wailing for help.

"We're not strange," Kim pouted.

Shego only grinned.

"Well, not that strange," she protested as she dropped her bags into a chair her father usually occupied.

Shego said nothing to that as she glanced out the still open door, and stated, "Looks like the police got here fast. And the fire department?"

"Well, my brothers have a kind of…..a reputation."

"I'll bet. You know you guys are raising super villains there, don't you," she smiled teasingly.

"No. They're much worse," Kim jabbed back, and didn't bother to take off her coat as she headed for the door again.

"Should I…..stay inside?"

"You'd better come on out. Wouldn't want to give them the wrong idea?"

"You mean, like you're hiding an allegedly dead felon in your house," Shego asked quietly.

"No. Like _you_ have anything to hide. You're with me now, Sherri. Remmeber? And for what it's worth, standing up to Lipski has to go a long ways in anyone's eyes."

"Maybe," she said mournfully, though she followed Kim outside again even as the police began climbing out of their cars, though the firemen stayed back. None of them, Shego noted, stepped on the lawn.

"Chief Robbins," Kim waved as the man looked down at her from his six-five height, and scowled bleakly at the redhead.

"What now, Possible? I thought you were finished with all this…..nonsense."

"I am. Someone forgot to tell them," she said, nodding to the two villains still encased in energy fields.

"I don't suppose you can…..neutralize your minefield long enough for us to…"

"Already done," she smiled agreeably even as Drew, pounding on what seemed thin air, suddenly fell on his face.

"So, what's the story here," the big cop demanded. "Because the last time we showed up, it was some kind of nonsense about _aliens_."

"Well," she murmured, seeing Shego's incredulous expression. "Just some standard breaking and entering, and personal harrassment this time, chief. But I think you know both these guys have more than a few warrants out for them."

"Especially blue-boy, I recall," he scowled as his men quickly, but carefully searched both men, though Duff had yet to regain consciousness. One of the officers thoughtfully produced a blanket to drape over the semi-nude man who had blown up part of his own clothing.

"Yes. You might call Global Justice if you want them off your hands, but I will also be pressing additional charges."

"And the…..flying saucer," he scowled at the hover car that set in the middle of the yard as the two were fairly dragged toward a car. Duff because he was still out cold. Drew because he was still struggling, and demanding Shego help him.

"I'll handle that. It's a bit….much for any of your people to try handling safely."

"And this one?" He eyed Shego as he said it, and Shego again seemed to shrink from his glare.

"I would have thought Officer Hobble would have filled you in by now."

"He said something about…..federal custody, and a confidential standing that gave you authority over…..her. I still haven't heard just how she's even standing there. Let alone why," he added pointedly.

"That, I'm afraid, is classified for now. But the moment I can, I will fill you in. Agreed?"

The man nodded, then added, "I'm just glad it wasn't your brothers again. Frankly, I'm getting tired of filing reports on those two. Try to keep it quiet for the rest of the holidays, though. Will you?"

"I'll do my best, chief," she grinned as the firemen seemed more than relieved they weren't needed. This time.

"I thought he was going to make you hand me over," Shego told her as the police disappeared after the firemen as Kim

"Chief Robbins is okay. A bit stiff, but he's a good guy. You can trust him."

"So, what are you going to do with Drew's hover pod? Your folks aren't going to like it there, and God forbid your brothers get their hands on it."

"Exactly," she said as the police left with their prisoners. She let them get out of sight, and then pulled out the shrink ray she had not bothered to hand over either. Adjusting the settings, she aimed it at the hover car, and shrank it down the size of a matchbox. She then slid both it, and the ray back into her coat pocket.

"I don't know if I'm impressed, or disturbed that you handle that kind of technology so well."

"Experience. Frankly, I designed a better shrink ray ages ago to make moving easier," she admitted. "True, Wade helped me build it, but I designed it."

"Right," Shego said as they went back inside.

"We'd better put the bags away. Expecially since I need to wrap up a few things before the family gets home."

"Kim?"

"Yes," she asked as they went back into the house, and peeled their coats up after closing the door, and resetting the security system.

Just in case.

"Thanks. I….I'm still not used to being…. Well, to having anyone….stand up for me."

"Everyone deserves a second chance, Sherri. Or even a first one if they've never had it," Kim told her. "Besides, I still feel….."

"Let's let that one go," Shego said knowingly as she now helped carry the bags upstairs to Kim's room. Except for the bags she had bought just for herself.

It seemed some of her own legal accounts were still around, and she accessed them from the mall's ATM without problem. It made shopping easier, and Kim didn't question her about it, so she didn't say anything.

"Only if you stop apologizing every five minutes."

Shego eyed her with a frown.

"I do not…."

"Okay, ten minutes. We both need to just let go of the past, and look at the here and now. Agreed," Kim asked.

"Agreed. So go to your room, and let me wrap up my gifts," Kim was told when she started to follow Shego into the room.

"I don't get a peek," Kim asked playfully, having already delivered her bags to her room.

"Sure. Christmas morning," Shego drawled, and shoved her out of the room.

Kim only laughed as the door shut in her face.

_To Be Continued…_


	7. Chapter 7

_I do not own any Disney characters named herein, and am only borrowing them to tell a nonprofit tale meant for entertainment purposes only._

**Kim Possible: After the Fall **

**By LJ58**

**7**

Shego sat sipping hot tea in the living room as she watched the television without paying much attention to the program.

The past week had been nothing but surprising to her. She had been welcomed into the family as they prepared for the holiday without any apparent regard to her more nefarious past. Even now, Kim was out doing some last minute shopping while she was left to vegetate at the house, being trusted on her own while her family was out on their own business.

She found the trust…..humbling.

Tomorrow was Christmas Eve, and she knew Ann was planning a huge meal for the family, and the house was by now decorated so gaudily it looked like one of those mall stores to her eyes at time. The Possibles apparently went all out when it came time to celebrate anything.

It was, she knew, a far cry from her far more modest, and subdued upbringing.

She sipped from her mug again, smiling as she thought about the few gifts she had bought on impulse for Kim, and her family, that first day she had gone to the mall. She was glad she had decided to get them something, since she was fairly certain those additional packages that had recently appeared under the tree were likely for her.

No names on them, but they had not been there when she first arrived.

She couldn't help but wonder what Kim might get her. She just hoped Kim liked the outfit she had found for her. She had managed to sneak it in among her own purchases while buying herself a new wardrobe, and was pretty sure Kim had not noticed it. At least, she hoped not.

Just now, sitting in the quiet house, sipping hot tea just the way she liked it, she found she could almost enjoy herself. It was ironic, though, since she was still acclimating to the fact that Kim had kicked her off the Bueno Nacho building right into a coma that lasted just over four years. A part of her was still stunned, trying to wake up. A part of her was wondering why she was still sitting here when she should be….

Getting back to work?

The stray thought made her frown.

Seeing Drew last week had been a shock in itself. Hearing him rant, and carry on told her just where she had fit in his grand schemes.

Somewhere between a socket wrench, and a hired hench.

He had apparently not even been slowed down by her apparent death. He hadn't even stopped to mourn her, so far as she could tell.

Only Kimberly had done that.

Rewrote her entire life out of grief.

For her.

Back to work?

She gave a mental snort, and swore whatever happened, Drew better hope she never met him again. He obviously had all the graciousness of…

She pointedly tore her thoughts away from the other blue idiot in her life.

She was not ready to think of him. Not ready to even consider him.

She knew Kim was disappointed, but while her literal timeout had made her reevaluate a lot of things in her life just then, she was still not ready to just see Hego as yet. She wasn't sure she would ever be ready.

She sighed, noting her tea was getting cool as she took another sip, realizing belatedly that by now even the big blue moron likely knew she was back among the living. Frankly, she was surprised he had not come barging in, demanding answers.

It would be his style.

Stretching her long legs out as she unfolded from her spot in the couch, she rose to her feet, and headed to the kitchen to make a fresh cup of tea as she again excised Hego from her thoughts. Just now, she was feeling too good, and too relaxed to think on unpleasant things.

She was reaching for the lemon to flavor her fresh tea when she heard a car pull up outside.

She smiled, knowing it was Kim by the sound of the engine.

Without hesitating, she turned and headed for the door, carrying a second cup of hot tea she had quickly made, knowing the redhead was likely to be chilled after being gone all morning.

Opening the door, she found the woman standing there about to try to open the door with arms full of wrapped packages, and a nose almost as red as her hair.

"Thanks," she beamed, and walked in, kicking fresh snow from her feet. "You would not believe the crush down at the mall!"

Shego only smiled at her, and let her put her burdens down before silently offering her the steaming cup.

Kim took it with a wide smile, and sighed happily after a long sip.

"Perfect," she beamed up at her, and just then, Shego felt the same way.

**KP**

"Enjoy yourself," Kim knocked on the guest room door that afternoon as Shego worked on packing her bags as she knew she and Kim would be leaving soon.

"Very much," she told the redhead as she put the gifts away that her family had given her in the last suitcase. An unlikely MP3 player the twins had crafted for her that apparently had the ability to rip any song she heard from any radio, or device within its transceiver range. A very costly silk dress in just the right shade of green from Mrs. Possible. Kim's father had proven his own obsession by giving her a book on rocket science.

"Everyone should know this stuff," James Possible has assured her.

Kim had given her a surprisingly costly purse with a matching wallet that matched her dress, and which was designed by one of her favorite fashion divas.

To her, it was a perfect Christmas.

Not the gifts. Just being part of a family that obviously cared. That, Shego knew, was what made things special.

"I've got something else for you," Kim reminded her, the very words she had told her when giving her that gift box earlier with the family.

Kim held out the small bundle in a loose bag, and she frowned. Pulling out the colorful two-tone garment, she realized she was looking at her own uniform. Complete with boots, and her equipment belt.

She looked up at Kim in confusion as she let the shapeless garment dangle from one hand as she stood there.

"No, this isn't your real gift," Kim told her with a faint smile. "I just thought you should have that back. Whatever you decide to do later."

"Do you…..want me to leave," Shego asked her quietly as she held the uniform a moment longer before simply tossing it atop the things in her last suitcase.

"No. No, Sherri, I don't. But…. I know that right now you're still fragile. Not quite fully over your shock of waking. In time, you'll…..well, be more yourself. Then…. Well, I doubt either of us know what you might do then."

"What if I decide to stay," Shego asked her quietly, putting the boots and belt into the suitcase, too as she spoke.

"Then I'd be very glad to have you with me, sweetheart," she called her, and leaned forward to kiss her nose. "Now, close your eyes. I have to get your other gift."

"Don't you have it…..?"

"Eyes," Kim laughed.

"Fine. Fine. Play your….games," she frowned as she closed her eyes, waiting, and heard Kim return from quickly leaving the room only to have something strangely soft, and warm placed into her hands.

Shego's eyes flared open, and she stared down into the bright green eyes of the orange-yellow kitten with a striking green collar around its throat.

She looked from the kitten to Kim, and back down.

"What….?"

"It's a kitten."

"I know that," Shego grumbled, still staring at the animal.

"I thought…. You might like a pet. Something that would love you no matter what. Something to keep you company. Something…."

"Are you sure you aren't kicking me out?"

"….To remind you of me even when I have to go to work," Kim went on.

Shego just stared at Kim now.

"You could even call her Pumpkin," she teased.

Shego burst into laughter. Then put the kitten on the bed between then when she reached out and hugged Kim.

"She's beautiful. Like you, Princess."

"You're welcome."

"But you're my only Pumpkin. Don't ever forget it."

"So, what will you call her?"

"Hmmmm." She looked down at the kitten that looked up and mewed with wide, soulful eyes. "Hope? Cause those eyes say she's really hoping one of us will feed her."

Kim chuckled at that. "I have a bowl of milk for her in the bathroom. That's where I was hiding her all day."

"No wonder you wouldn't let me wash your back this morning."

"That, and the whole family is home today," Kim reminded her.

"So?"

Kim blushed at that.

Shego only grinned.

"You're still twisted, Sherri."

Shego only grinned.

"Thank you for the kitten, Princess," she said, and leaned forward to kiss her nose this time.

"You're welcome," she smiled back. "You really like her?"

"I love her. I always wanted…."

Her eyes shuttered for a moment, and Kim had a flash of a little girl crying because her brothers had killed the sickly cat she had found, and tried to nurse back to health.

"Are you…..remembering Muffin," she asked cautiously.

Shego just stared at her. "Yeah," she murmured, showing no alarm. "Guess you still have some of my memories from that little dip in my head you took?"

"They come and go. I wish I had known you then. We could have been friends."

"Kimmie," she smiled. "You were just a baby back then."

Kim's expression made her laugh.

"Princess, I think I really do love you. But I doubt even I would have been friends with a baby."

Kim's expression turned thoughtful.

"Your mom is right. You can be stubborn."

"I am not," she sputtered indignantly.

"But I don't mind," Shego told her, and leaned forward to hug her. Only to belatedly realize the kitten had climbed back up onto her lap, and was still eyeing her.

It mewed again, and both women laughed.

"Someone wants attention."

"Someone wants _food_," Shego countered, and rose to carry the cat back to the bathroom, and set it down by the small bowl still half filled with milk.

Kim walked in behind her, staring down at the kitten as it lapped up the white liquid, and Shego smiled a bit smugly. "Told you."

"Okay, so you can read a kitten's mind."

"I can read yours, too, Princess," Shego said, and pulled her back into her arms. "Now, let me give you _your_ special gift," she said, and this time nothing interrupted the passionate kiss Shego gave her as they stood in the door of her bathroom.

**KP**

"You don't think we should….intercede," Will asked as he conferred with his mentor over the highly encrypted communications channel.

"I've been trying to ascertain just how to do so without having it blow up in our faces," Betty admitted. "Frankly, while I admire what she has accomplished this year, she is still wasting her best gifts pursuing this…..ill-advised relationship."

"Perhaps having her…..relationship to Shego come out would help break them up," Will suggested. "After all, a new doctor already breaking the doctor-patient standards of behavior could be seen as…."

"They came out openly just after the new year," Betty reminded him. "Whatever bad publicity might be garnered was swept away by the realization that Dr. Possible has accomplished a genuine medical miracle that is already giving hope to literally hundreds of families out there. Likely more as news of her device spreads. That goodwill seems to have automatically extended to Shego as she presented herself as a genuinely penitent woman grateful for her second chance."

"What of legal charges?"

"Technically, we had her declared dead. We're still trying to….get around some of the bureaucracy as Shego technically remains a nonentity beyond the reach of the legal authorities."

Will Du sat back in his chair as his features twisted in a thoughtful pause. He had wondered if that one wouldn't come back to bite them. Apparently, it had. Just not in the way he had expected.

"That is true," he finally remarked. "I can see where….tarnishing either of them at this point would be….difficult. Give me some time to think, Dr. Director. I'll see what I can't come up with on my end."

"Just now, we have nothing but time," Will was told. "My people here are fresh out of ideas beyond simply abducting either of them."

"That….would be an extraordinarily stupid thing to attempt," Will declared knowingly.

"Exactly," Betty nodded. "Keep me posted on anything you come up with, Agent Du."

"Of coure, Dr. Director," he nodded, and switched off the communications device as he watched Betty Director's scowling visage vanish from the monitor.

He sat back in his chair, genuinely annoyed that after so long, he was once more being saddled with that irritating amateur that he had been content was finally out of the field. He was actually not too surprised she had to inadvertently poke her nose into things best left alone. It seemed to be what the redhead did best.

As he pondered options, he was not so much considering a method of how to separate the unlikely pair, and reinvigorate Possible to the chase, as it were. His mind was more focused on how to put Shego where she belonged, while simultaneously neutralizing the irksome woman that had no place in his world.

He did not move.

Did not blink.

Did not make a sound.

He simply sat and pondered.

He knew his talents, and his abilities. He knew if he just focused, he would come up with a ploy. One that would put both woman down, and out of his misery for good.

Scenarios like that, after all, were what he was very good at concocting.

He just had to conjure one foolproof enough to manage two annoying, and admittedly slightly competent females.

_To Be Continued…_


	8. Chapter 8

_I do not own any Disney characters named herein, and am only borrowing them to tell a nonprofit tale meant for entertainment purposes only._

**Kim Possible: After the Fall **

**By LJ58**

**8**

Shego walked into the kitchen, and stared at the coffee machine.

It had been prepped, but wasn't even switched on.

"Thought you were making breakfast," she asked her unusual roommate as the green-skinned woman noted that Kim was standing at the sink, staring out the kitchen window, but not otherwise moving.

Kim turned to eye her, looking troubled.

"I just heard from the Berne Institute," she said quietly, looking as grim as she could recall the redhead ever looking.

"Nothing's wrong, is it," she asked, reaching over to switch on the coffee machine. "I mean, I thought you had all the bugs out, and you guys were really cooking with that brain thingy now."

"We were. Are. But last night, someone broke in, and stole the Cerebral Modulator," she said. "Everything was stolen. The projector. Files. Everything."

Shego frowned.

"Why would anyone….?"

Kim only shook her head.

"Unfortunately, it could have been anyone. I immediately thought of Drew, of course, but I called and checked. He's still in prison after the last time we caught him. Or so they told me."

"Clues?"

"I'm hardly in the loop any longer," Kim said, looking disturbed. "No one will tell me anything. They just put me off, and assured me they're investigating."

"You don't think they're looking hard enough," Shego guessed.

"The detective I spoke with sounded like he was more interested in what _we_ were doing, than in finding out who could have broken in….."

She paused, and frowned even more darkly.

"Kim," Shego asked.

"You remember the Institute, Sherri," she told her. "That place has some serious security. Common thieves could not simply have walked in, or out of there. Not without help."

Shego filled two mugs once the coffe was ready, and handed Kim one of them.

"What are you going to do?"

"I was wondering that myself. Part of me wants to go check it out. Maybe even….call Wade again."

"But?"

She sighed.

"Part of me can't help but wonder if this isn't Dr. Director making her own move. Trying to _encourage_ me to get back into that kind of thing."

Shego sipped from her own cup as Kim just stared into her steaming mug. "I have to admit that sounds like the kind of thing she would do," the green-skinned woman nodded. "I told you all about her feeding Hego's heroic fantasies, and you know how that ended up. For all of us."

Even Shego had been surprised by the warm welcome the media had given her when Kim had circumvented anything Betty might try by issuing her own press release regarding her research, and her unlikely companion. Sherri still used 'Go' as an alias, even if Kim knew her real name, just to ensure her brother's aliases stayed safe. Meanwhile, she was finally starting to relax as she accepted Kim's hospitality in her modest apartment, considering her own future while Kim dealt with scientific journals, reporters, and updating her own medical research.

This morning, she knew, Kim was supposed to be going in to the local university that sponsored her research to give a lecture on brains, or something.

"Your lecture," she finally asked, thinking of it just then.

"I already called Dr. Wyatt."

"Why? If you can't do anything right now….?"

"Sherri, I may be over-thinking this, but….. If someone is making a play? GJ, or anyone else? What if they come after _me_ next? I can't be standing in the middle of a crowded auditorium full of civilians if that happens. It would be just asking for trouble."

"You think it's possible," Shego asked.

"More than likely. If GJ is trying to….encourage me, they'll try to amp the motivating factor, I'm sure. If it is someone else that took my machine, they'll find they can't do much without my operating codes, which only I, and the head director at Berne knew. Without them, they can't power up the projector. Since nothing was said about any abductions at the Institute….."

"That leaves you as the obvious target," Shego realized.

"That leaves me," Kim nodded. "In either scenario, they have to be coming for me next. So, what do I do?"

Shego stared hard at her a minute, then nodded.

"Just because someone may be playing you, doesn't mean you have to play their game. Give them a target, and when they show….."

Kim set her cup aside after finally taking a drink, and smiled thinly.

"Smash anyone that pops up," Kim asked knowingly.

"Works for me," Shego grinned.

"Actually, that was exactly what I was thinking," Kim agreed somberly. "Which was why I was standing in the window, letting anyone out there know exactly where I'm at just now."

"You should have woke me earlier….."

"Sherri, this is my problem. Not yours. I'm not denigrating you, but…. If it is GJ, I don't you doing something that gives Dr. Director an excuse to target you again just when I'm about to publish, and let the world know that Sharonda Gordeaux is not a villain. Not any longer. Now she is just another patient looking for a new start at life."

"That was your plan," Shego asked quietly. "To….out me in some….science journal," Shego asked.

"Hardly. Your secrets? Your confidences? I keep those, just as I promised. But I do put your name on the list of people who might not have had a second chance without my study. Nothing will be said that wasn't already disclosed at the press conference. That gives you…."

"I won't be pitied," Shego growled, a sudden edge to her tone as she stood there staring at Kim after setting her own mug aside. "And I won't be…..protected like I'm some kind of….."

"Sherri," Kim stopped her. "We both know you're still physically capable of facing down just about anyone out there. We both know if you wanted to leave, not even I could keep you here. I'm just asking you to give me a chance to get the public fully on your side before Dr. Director can paint you as just another unrepentant rogue. Because you're not. Not now. Are you," she asked quietly.

Shego turned half away, and stared at nothing as she seemed to fall utterly silent.

"I remember…. When Hego wanted to make his point…. He always babbled about his age. His gender. His stupid muscles. All of that made him somehow right, and somehow better. Like the comet gave him all the answers, and left the rest of us idiots. Before I learned my own worth, my own abilities, he used those muscles to enforce his point. Whatever stupid idea it might be at the time," she admited.

"I figured that out the first time I met him," Kim smiled faintly. "But you overcame that past. You can overcome this, too. I have faith..."

"You didn't grow up under that...freak, though. You didn't live it every single day. Every mistake I made, and every decision he argued was wrong was all somehow because I was…..flawed."

"You're not flawed, Sherri."

She looked back at Kim.

"You're not. If you're going to reject your brother, then reject what he tried to teach you, too. All of it. Not just..."

"We'll try it your way," Shego finally nodded when Kim trailed off. She knew the truth about the abuse suffered at her allegedly heroic sibling's hands still confused and distrubed her. She had lived it, but Kim had no real understanding of that kind of life. She was, Shego decided, beyond lucky in that respect. "I still think I should be at your side, though. What if some wacko has some way to….?"

"As you pointed out, I'm not exactly soft, Sherri," the redhead smiled. "If someone shows up, I'll be ready. Frankly, I'm hoping it is Dr. Director. If she is involved, it will give us additional leverage if she's caught up in something that is both ferociously illegal, and likely unethical."

"She's a spy," Sherri shrugged now, turning to refill her own mug. "Goes without saying."

Kim only smirked at that.

"I'll go get dressed, and maybe drive around town a bit. See if I shake any of the usual nuts loose," Kim declared after a moment.

"What about breakfast?"

"I'm too tweaked to eat just now. Make yourself something, but I likely won't be back for a few hours. I want to swing by, and run a few things past the tweebs, too."

"All right," Sherri sighed. "Sure you don't need backup?"

"With the tweebs," she teased, and left the room.

Shego heard her walk out the door a few minutes later. She sat at the table, sipping the hot brew, but something was bothering her.

Something, her old instincts were waking to scream at her just then, wasn't right.

Still in her pajamas, she almost dropped her mug as she leapt to her feet, realization dawning as she bolted for the front door. Jerking open the door, she stared at Kim's weird, little car still setting in the drive, and stared out at the empty street.

She found Kim's briefcase just three feet from her car.

She reached down and picked up the satchel, and looked around.

Sniffing, she tried to pick out any ambient odors from the smells around her, trying to find a scent that might explain how the redhead was taken so quickly. So easily. Without so much as a shout, or a fight. Because if she knew anything, it was that Kim Possible wouldn't have just lay down for anyone.

Nothing appeared to explain her absence, though.

Heading for the house, she tried to think of how to best proceed.

Kim had been right.

Someone came for her, and they had taken her completely by surprise.

Who?

She could already guess at least part of the why.

Her machine didn't work without her codes.

And it wasn't that long ago that Drew had been trying to snatch it.

Rushing to the phone, she swallowed her own bile, and dialed a number she never thought she would ever use.

**KP**

"Commander Du," a faint, smugness painted the tone of the man that answered the page.

"What did you do," came the harsh quip without introduction, or formalities.

"I did as you asked," Will smirked at the one-eyed agent on his monitor. "Isn't that why you called me? To give you what you needed? Well, it's done."

"How did you do it," Dr. Director demanded. "Exactly."

"I just arranged for Lipski to be freed, and pointed him at Possible. I might have allowed a few things to slip out to give him a slight edge in their initial encounter, but I wager in the end, everyone gets what they want," he said a little too complacently.

"Possible has disappeared, along with her machine. No one has any idea where she is, or what Lipski might be doing with her, or her machine. Need I say more," the head of Global Justice demanded.

"Well, surely your inestimable protégé will manage. Isn't that what she does," he sniffed.

"Understand me, William. I wanted Possible back in play, but on our side. You know how Lipski works at the best of times. If _anything_ happens to Possible, it's on your head."

"If anything happens," he drawled indifferently, "Then she's not the woman you claim," he said in a dismissive tone. "I'd be watching Shego, though. I sure that seeing Possible….neutralized might just energize her again."

Will's smile faded as he eyed the glowering woman on his comm-panel, and realized that Betty Director was saying nothing. She simply closed the channel, and he was left staring at the now dark monitor.

He shrugged, utterly pleased with how things had gone.

The neurotoxin he had arranged for Lipski to find, and use, would keep Possible under control long enough for him to do whatever he wanted to that redheaded pest that shrouded both their lives. The power vacuum would inevitably bring Shego back into the game, and then he could move in, take them all down, and for once, he would be the undisputed hero in all eyes.

Lucky amateur, zero.

Will Du, all the marbles.

Considering he had all but written out Lipski's plan this time for him, in disguise, of course, he couldn't see how anything could possibly go wrong.

**KP**

Shego stepped out of the little car, still surprised by all it could and did do, and eyed the high cliffs before her.

Not that she was interested in climbing.

When she called the harpy, it took about four seconds to read between the lines, and figure out the woman had her own grandstanders at work. Like always.

She realized that if anyone was going to help Kim, it wasn't going to be the usual bumbling wannabe cops. By the time they did anything, Drew might have lobotomized her, or worse. She went to the car after making her own preparations, and 'woke up' the AI, asking her to help find Kim before it was too late.

Fortunately, the Nerdlinger was also listening, and opened the thing up for her, and got it to home in on Kim's signal.

She wasn't too surprised where it led.

She waited a few minutes, and walked over to the rock wall before her, ignoring the steel door that towered like some bad cliché in the metal frame set into the living rock.

She held up both hands, and for the first time in weeks, technically years, she summoned her comet-spawned power on a level that made even that muscle-headed brother of her nervous.

And then she knocked.

Hard.

**KP**

"Now what," Dr. Drakken demanded as the sounds of shouts, and even screams reached him as he labored over the cobbled together devices before him, and to which Kim found herself facing when she finally woke up. Alert, but strangely paralyzed, her last clear memory being of about to climb into her car.

By the time she was finally able to move her body again, she was already bound to the bench under the inevitably phallic ray, and Drakken was ranting in his best form as he mocked her, her family, and all things Possible.

Even she was starting to think she was in real trouble this time when the chaos broke lose somewhere else in the lair. Chaos that seemed to be coming closer, and driving fleeing Henches through the lab as if the men were running away from something bad.

Or someone.

Drew looked up even as he heard the slammed doors to the lab rattle after his anxious men had babbled something confusing, and engaged all the security and locks they could find.

And most still ran off afterward.

Then the very wall of the lair began to melt, and buckle.

Just before a gloved fist smashed through the superheated rock, and a familiar voice filled the air.

"Hi, boys," the sardonic voice well known to her reached Kim's ears as the rubble stopped falling, and she looked up from where she was strapped to a machine she was afraid might just destroy her mind. "Remember me?"

To their credit, the remaining henchmen turned and tried to bolt at the sight of the woman in green and black with flaming hands who had just punched and melted her way though a solid stone wall rather than bother with the obviously booby-trapped door.

Dr. Drakken, however, was still not that bright.

"Shego! I knew you'd come back to….. _Yeeeoooowwwww,"_ he howled as the plasma burst caught him full in the chest, and slammed him across his lab into the far wall.

"What did I say? What. Did. I. Say? No one," she said, pausing to slice one shackle that freed Kim's right hand. "No one touches my Princess. _Ever_," she roared even as Kim quickly freed herself, needing only that slight advantage, though virtually all the henches had fled by then.

Kim grinned as she jumped to her feet, grateful her body was responding again, and smiled at her. "Thanks, Sherri."

"Kimmie. Right now? I'm _Shego_," she growled, and turned on Drakken again. "Allow me to demonstrate," she said as Drakken paled, leapt to his feet, and bolted from the lab following his men.

"Mommmmmeeeeeeee," shrilly echoed after him as he ran.

"Gah," Shego groaned, and calmed down as she turned back to Kim, both of them now alone in the lair. "I cannot believe I used to work for that….."

"How did you know where I was?"

"Please. I didn't work for that moron all that time without learning a few things. I knew he'd be using the closest lair he had to Upperton after he took you. Then, too, your little car-brain sealed the deal when I got it to follow your signal thingy, which Drew obviously didn't think to shut off. He….didn't hurt you, did he," Shego asked, pausing to look her over now as Kim turned to the machine before her.

"He didn't get the chance," she smiled, and turned back to Drakken's machine.

"So, what was he planning this time? Something stupid, no doubt."

"What he planned, and what would have happened are two different things," she told Shego as she investigated the machine's programming. "He still thought my CM program could literally reprogram minds. He thought he was going to 'upgrade' me, as he put it."

"Let me guess….?"

"He would have effectively destroyed my mind. Or any mind he used this on," she said, examining the device, and its bastardized programming. "Damn, it'll take me weeks just to reprogram this, and I'm still not certain it would be safe. I'll be better off just rebuilding it."

"I'm sorry," Shego told her, moving to stand beside her, putting a hand on her shoulder.

"I'm just glad you showed up. Still, I don't want anyone getting their hands on this….monstrosity. Would you do the honors," Kim asked her as she stepped back.

Shego grinned, and stepped forward, hands blazing.

"Just don't ever tell anyone," Shego quipped with a playful smirk on her full lips. "They might mistake me for your new buffoon."

Kim stifled the giggle that surged up in her throat as Shego made short work of the cannibalized device Drew had ruined. She smiled at the green-skinned woman, and impulsively stretched up to peck her cheek just as Shego turned toward her.

"Thanks. I just have one more stop."

"Oh," Shego asked, not commenting on the kiss.

Although her cheek had blazed a bit before she regained her usual composure.

"Think about it? Drakken was just arrested a few weeks ago, and he's already out?"

"I get it," Shego commented knowingly. "So, either someone broke him out, or….."

"Someone _let_ him out," she growled. Spotting her Kimmunicator band on a nearby lab table just then, she stalked over, snatched it up, and switched it on.

"Wade, I've got a stich."

"Kim! You're okay?"

"I am now. Thanks to Shego."

Wade said nothing to that.

"What do you need," he asked quietly, knowing that look in the redhead's eyes.

**KP**

Shego tittered as she walked into the house well after midnight the next day, looking and sounding far more like herself of late.

Kim was grinning just as much as she followed her, locking up after they entered.

"I have got to say, I've honestly never seen anyone turn _that_ shade of green."

"I would say I can safely add acting to my list of skills. He actually believed me when I first walked into his office," Kim chortled.

"Princess," Shego grinned. "For a moment, _I_ was convinced you were really about to turn him into guacamole."

"To be honest, I was ready to do a lot more. That jerk almost cost me my brain. More importantly, he almost gave Drakken the means to ruin a lot more lives. Scaring him silly by pretending Drew sent me to...tie up loose ends was nothing compared to what he deserved."

"Guys, and their egos," Shego murmured. "Some of them just can't handle women like us," she realized.

"That doesn't make them right," Kim told her. "Any of them," she added, knowing what, or who Shego was likely thinking about just then.

"I know. But…. I think you're right. All of my own issues? Most of them do come back to Hego. And…. Team Go. I let a lot of old insecurities drive me, and before I knew what had happened, I had given away too many years to loons like Drew just to spite _Henry."_

Kim paused, and eyed the woman back in civilian clothes now.

Dr. Director had been surprisingly contrite. Especially after Wade produced monitored conversations he had discovered that implied she had all but armed, and aimed Will Du before turning him loose on the pair of them. That woman wasn't going to be looking their way for a while after this one. Her past with Shego as both a member of Team Go, and a villain didn't help the senior agent's case either. Especially with the British officials arresting Commander Du for his complicity in aiding a known felon of Drakken's status.

That was just icing on her proverbial cake to Kim.

"So, what will you do now, Sherri," she asked. "It looks like you're going to be free and clear now after everything came out at that grand jury hearing. No charges. No wants. You're finally free to do anything you want."

Shego stood in the living room, just staring at Kim.

"What if…..I wanted to stay with you," she dared ask in a very soft whisper.

Kim's smile slowly blossomed as she stepped forward.

"Well, I do believe I could work you into my schedule so I can...keep an eye on you. I wouldn't want you to risk a….relapse," she smiled up at the woman who had so changed her life in so many ways.

"I'd like that. And…. I think you're right. We should go see the boys. I need to put some things to rest, once and for all."

"Sherri?"

"Nothing physical. Unless he starts it," she added after a moment's pause, her smirk more than telling. "But, you are right. It's time I started living my own life. Not reacting to old hurts. And…. I'm really glad I didn't lose you that night, Kimberly," she called her. "I knew Drew was going too far, and….."

"The past is past," Kim murmured, putting a finger over her lips. "Face it, and let it go. Remember?"

"I remember," Shego said, and reached to pull the smaller redhead into her embrace. "Here's to the future," he murmured, and pressed her lips down onto Kim's with all the passion in her swelling heart.

Even as they kissed, Shego heard a mewling protest, and looked down to see Hope. "Oh, no," she realized. "I completely forgot about her!"

"I'll bet she lets you know about it, too," Kim grinned as Shego leaned down to scoop up the kitten.

"Don't worry," Shego cooed. "We'll get you something good to eat, and then..."

Shego's eyes raked Kim, and she added "And then we'll see if we can't find something for us to do."

Kim only smiled back.

"Sounds like a plan," she agreed, forgetting the rest of the world for a time. With luck, they'd even manage to keep it at bay for the rest of the week.

One could hope, she mused, and reached over to pat the small ball of fur that Shego cradled. Their eyes met again, and both women shared a knowing smile.

_End…?_


End file.
